Overboard
by Sir Sleeps-a-lot
Summary: Two teens enter an outrageous bet, armed only with their wits and their favourite pastimes, to try to push the limits of their popularity and get a date, while making sure that the other can't hold onto theirs... The whole story goes way too far, but isn't that the best way to spend your youth?
1. Shut up and take my confession

**Oh God, here we go again...**

 **Welcome to my new story, being my fourth long-runner, and the fifth for this fandom... if only I could be like Xellos and write one at a time, without disappearing for three bloody months.**

 **Well, whatever... while I take my time updating my other stories, I'll share this one, which has about 7 chapters worth of content, and I work on it every few days, because it's more light-hearted than my other stories (excluding Damn that Guy), and the link to canon is a lot weaker.**

 **Storyline wise, it's pretty simple... shit happens, and Keima gets roped into a bet with Chihiro, where they both have to woo a person of the other sex into dating them...**

 **But you must be wondering why I'd even bother... Keima has to woo girls all throughout the manga, so isn't this me just messing with the story?**

 **Well, you're probably right... Keima still does the same stuff, but without the threat of losing his head... with the added threat of Chihiro messing up his hard work... and nobody losing their memories...**

 **And of course, as what seems to be a prerequisite of my stories now, Chihiro and Keima share the stage, allowing for hilarious clashes, weird antics, and Chihiro's attempts at conquering guys, which will only go as bad as you can imagine that.**

 **I love the whole romantic comedy "bet" premise, where the guy makes a bet with his friend to date some frumpy girl till he actually falls in love with her, and then her getting depressed when she finds out about the bet, then them finally getting together after some confession. Pretty standard romcom way to spend your youth, huh?**

 **Then I just said "screw it", and flipped the entire premise over, leading to this monstrosity. Still, it's a story I'm proud of coming up with and writing, so I truly hope you guys like it as well.**

 **Now, I hope you guys get on board with this one.**

* * *

"I'm in love with you…" Chihiro said softly, her skin darkening a few shades. She quickly shoved the box of cookies in front of the confused boy to divert his attention from her face.

"Me?" he asked, surprised.

She nodded hastily.

"You… remember who I am, right?" he asked. It was perfectly reasonable question to ask, considering that he was the class nerd. Chihiro's eyes narrowed.

"I love you, Katsuragi!" she repeated again, this time more firmly and less hesitant, "will you accept me?"

Now, it would be understandable to think that the idiot author decided to spoil the climax of the story, but that is nowhere near the truth… the truth is that this is exactly how this story started… with one awkward confession.

How truthful this confession actually was is up for discussion, however.

Kosaka Chihiro, our heroine, is anything but one, being the epitome of normal. Heroines are either super-powered, or so motivated to get power that they'd work their butt off, of which Chihiro was neither. She was lazy as anything, and her dream of the future… well, she didn't have one…

Actually, that's a lie… Chihiro's only goal was to finally get that fairy tale ending Disney had taught her to expect… she was seventeen and hadn't even kissed a guy, for God sakes! How lame was that!?

Katsuragi Keima, on the receiving end of the confession, was also not your standard hero… while he was eccentric enough to not be considered normal, it was only his love of dating simulations that separated him from his more average classmates, like the girl who stood before him… He was a God of the gaming world, yet somehow, there was this very real girl before him, face dusted pink and fingers clamped hard over the little package she was trying to present to him. Who was she, even?

Needless to say, the pairing was odd… other than the matching hair and eyes, they had next to nothing in common… he conquered the 2D, while she animatedly gossiped about the 3D things he hated… while he stared avidly at a screen, she was flipping through magazines half-heartedly… while his pen glided over tests as if he was freakin' Kira, she chewed on the back of hers irritably, wondering how the hell he was so smart when he didn't even listen in class…

There's plenty more that could be said about their differences, but you get the gist, right? With two people so different, how could it be that she fell for him?

Simple… she hadn't…

'Then why is she confessing?' you ask… that answer is simple too. Chihiro just doesn't make sense.

It was about two weeks into the school year that Chihiro realised how sad she really was… no club activities… no social life (outside of her best friend, Ayumi, of course)… it wasn't as if she stayed home and studied either. It was around then that her book from two years previous appeared, and surely it had to be a sign.

To explain, the book was your average notebook until you opened it, revealing enough information about the male student body of Maijima Academy that it bordered on illegal. This was a book Chihiro had painstakingly worked on all through her third year of middle school after her mother kicked her out for returning as soon as school was over. Chihiro hated clubs, and studying was boring, so she just went with her only hobby at the time… admiring guys.

She had been very thorough while compiling this book… she took pictures… she constructed those web-like charts that those soccer games had (with her own categories, obviously), and even on a few days, she got into the filing room to see the school records on those boys, had she been missing anything… that, accompanied by her own surveillance, had left her with an insane amount of information that was all neatly written in that book.

As for where this book comes in here... well, Keima Katsuragi was on page 39. He had been good looking enough that she had researched him… though within her grade, he was the 19th hottest guy. He was, incidentally, the 35th guy she'd asked out since this trimester had begun, and the 18th boy in her grade, but that was only because Number 6 had transferred out after middle school…

Still, Chihiro was certain this was going to be different than those last thirty four attempts… she'd always aimed too high, in terms of standards. They were usually in clubs, and usually, pretty high up in their clubs. However, Katsuragi was different than them.

For one, both him and Chihiro were part of the go-home club… for another, he was pretty much disliked by the majority of the school for being married to his gaming console. There was no way he'd get anything better than her, which was why she was determined to hide the selfishness that was her intention.

"So Katsuragi…" she spoke softly, doing next to nothing to hide her blushing cheeks, "will you accept my feelings?"

He watched her, one eyebrow hiked to the cloudy sky. He figured it wasn't worth his time, by the fact that he turned back to his PFP, swinging his body around so he was walking to the roof entrance.

"O-Katsuragi…" she slipped, nearly calling him by his mocking nickname, "can't you give me an answer, at least?"

"I think my answer is fairly clear," he replied, not even stopping in his path. Chihiro grabbed his shoulder, sending a shiver through him.

"Don't touch me!" he hissed, but her hand only closed harder on his maroon school jacket.

"You won't even give me a chance?" she asked angrily, her arms crossing, "I would have accepted a no, but walking without a word is plain rude."

"You already proved my point," he spat, his body strung too tight to throw her hand off, "I know this is a trap and you're lying…"

Chihiro was a bit too panicked to be impressed at his deduction. Her chance at any relationship was shrinking with every second, and she needed to restore it.

"Why would I joke about something like this?" she asked seriously, her eyes narrowed to slits.

"This is the problem with you Reals… you hate me, and just want to humiliate me…" Chihiro scoffed.

"I'm not that petty…" she growled, "I told you I like you, and you just brush it off like some sick joke…"

Chihiro didn't know why she was so worked up about his (very true) accusation, but she could feel her blood boiling. He just looked down on her pissed expression with calm eyes.

"Really then… so you really like me?"

"Yeah," she nodded briskly.

"Really, what do you like about me then?"

That question threw Chihiro off enough that she unhanded him. She hadn't thought of anything to say there at all. Keima smirked, wiping his console's screen.

"Nothing, huh?" he started pressing buttons again, just about ending the conversation, "without proof, your argument completely falls… now, if you'll excuse m-"

"You want proof…" Chihiro spoke softly, her mouth working without consulting with her brain, which was just telling her to quit.

"You have no-," Keima shrugged. He was about to turn away when a hand curled around his neck scarf and brought his head down a few inches. His eyes widened as his classmate's face came close.

He was powerless as she roughly pressed her lips on his, the pressure transferring to his front teeth in a nearly painful way. Luckily, it was brief, and her head pulled back, her eyes snapping open, revealing still narrowed eyes.

In less than a second, her pupils grew slightly bigger, and the colour in her face drained. Her hand drifted toward her slightly opened mouth before she stopped herself, her brain finally catching up with her body. She gave him a look for a moment before yelling, rubbing her mouth madly with the back of her hand.

"Ewewewewewewewew!" she exclaimed, now using her flowery sleeve of her winter shirt to wipe her tainted mouth.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Keima yelled as well, nearly dropping his PFP in his slackening grip, "not only was I right, but you are an idiot!"

"I didn't think, okay!" she yelled, her cheeks now darkening, "I can't believe that's how my first kiss went!"

"It's your fault, you know!" he pointed out, and she looked at him angrily, the start of tears forming at the corner of her eyes, "and that was mines as well…"

Chihiro's angry face fell a little bit in surprise before she figured that it made sense… he was Otamega, dammit!

"I want a redo!" she shouted, "that was an utter disappointment…"

"You want to do that again?" He asked, his hand hurriedly covering his mouth.

"Not with you, Idiot!" her face turned pinker, but she didn't look away, "maybe _you_ can't get anything better, but I sure can."

Keima took a millisecond to absorb the insult. His face darkened as well, but this time, due to anger.

"Look who's talking!" he hissed, "you're the one who asked me out! You must be hella desperate if you thought kissing me was a good idea!"

Chihiro fell back for a moment before realising she wasn't standing her ground.

"I told you that I didn't mean to do it!" she hissed back, "you may as well remember it, because that will be the only one you'll get while you keep acting like Otamega!" her folded arms suddenly fell slack… she hadn't thought of that as a solution.

Yeah, she'd just forget this… it was a foul anyway, so what's the point of remembering?

She was in the process to leave the school roof and find some brain bleach, his voice interrupted again, as irritated as before.

"Take it back!" Keima screamed, the girl turned around, but continued walking backwards.

"Oh trust me, I already have!" she pulled a disgusted face.

"No, you acknowledge that you aren't the only girl I could get…" she stopped moving at the serious look on his face.

"That's what bothers you?" she asked, one eyebrow arched, "I'm not taking it back, because I'm right."

"No you're not…" he scowled, "12067 girls want me…" Chihiro's eyes widened, before his next words came, "in games, of course…"

Chihiro couldn't help it… her laughter came out more raucously than she intended, but she regretted nothing.

"By that logic, Yuya Matsushita and Mitsuo Tachibana must be in love with me, because of the fervid gazes they send my way every week…."

Her barely contained laughter overflowed again, and she was bent in half from laughing too hard.

"Those situations are nothing alike!" Keima shouted, "even if we're talking about the real, I know I can do a better job than you with regards to romance."

"Really?" Chihiro paused, her face becoming serious again, "that's a bold statement you make… are you willing to put your money where your mouth is, Mr I-have-five-million-girlfriends…" her poker face quivered, "…in games!"

She then lost it again.

* * *

 **So there you have it... Chapter One of Overboard.**

 **Hopefully, it lived up to its name, being a ridiculous, over-the-top, near incomprehensible start to a romantic comedy.**

 **So thank you for reading this tripe. If you have anything to say, please send a review. I'll probably do a review reply section like how I do in Down Memory Train.**

 **Hopefully, I'll post up the new chapter on Monday or Tuesday.**


	2. Will you just leave me alone?

**Yahallo! Welcome back to Overboard, the romantic comedy that no one asked for, yet still got, for some odd reason.**

 **In any case, here is chapter 2. I hope you guys enjoy it.**

* * *

When Keima was getting his indoor shoes from his locker, a folded note fell to the wooden planks. After a moment of deliberation of whether to ignore it or not, he chose the latter option.

 _Nee, Katsuragi-kun… meet me on the roof during lunch today 3- Kosaka Chihiro_

"Who's that?" he wondered out loud, before shrugging and folding the note into eights and throwing it into the bin… littering was bad, after all. In any case, regardless of who the note writer was, he had no interest in the real… Any game was better than _that_ …

Besides, if he was to put real life next to the game he was currently engrossed in, the latter's presence was so overwhelming that the world didn't have a chance.

"Geez, Keima-kun, you mustn't ignore her…" Keima's eyes widened at Haruka's words… he knew he had been dealing with a love triangle in this particular game, but that was still a little bit alarming. He quickly pressed the next button.

"Miyu…" her face changed to a tear-filled one, "you need to hear her out as well…"

Keima pulled a face, but continued playing. The supposed signs stopped coming.

Besides, Chihiro was a gender neutral name… he had even less business with his male classmates than he did with the females… no, it wasn't possible to have less than zero business.

As he swept open the door with his shoe, because both hands were on his PFP, his eyes unconsciously fell on the seat diagonally behind him, before he forced them away.

No, Keima was a resident of the 2D world. He had no interest in that girl or what happened that day almost a week ago.

In fact, that event proved to him exactly how shitty the real world was, just on the count that it would allow something like that to actually happen.

Keima was as much of a romantic as the next person, but that confession and kiss (more like mouth headbutt, by the feeling), was anything but romantic. If he actually allowed himself to think about it, by now, he'd have a whole list of what was wrong with that particular event.

For one, who let the mob character get involved in a confession event…

For another, how did this confession event even pass the story board? It was a freaking mess!

For another thing, there was no build up to that event…

Geez, now he was thinking about it. He growled before walking to his seat, determinedly playing his game, _A Song of First Love_.

No… Chihiro could be a boy or a girl or a flying cat, for all he cared. He didn't give a shit, and there was no way any person would make him give a shit about anything other than his precious games.

He steered clear away from the roof for lunch, but his peace was disturbed near the end of the lunch session when a voice hissed at him.

"Why didn't you go to the roof at lunch?" a girl's voice asked. He ignored it for a few moments till he felt something hard at his side.

"I was busy," he replied simply. The thing pressed harder into his skin.

"I told you I wanted to talk to you," she replied threateningly. Keima glanced at the object, noting it was a ruler. It wouldn't hurt him, but he couldn't deny it was uncomfortable. He scooted his chair to the other side of the desk and returned back to his game.

"I received no such message," he pressed the buttons, watching the mob character who had been previously talking to the heroine disappear. How he wished the real had a button like that.

"I left it in your shoe locker," she replied, her already angry tone only becoming more aggressive, "so you didn't get that?"

Keima couldn't help noticing the discrepancy between the words and the tone. He sighed.

"I didn't know who it was from, and if you didn't even have the decency to ask me in person, it clearly wasn't important enough," he looked up for the first time to see who the voice belonged to, "right, Chihiro?"

He wasn't sure if he was surprised or not at the fact that the mob girl who'd confessed to him last week turned out to be Kosaka Chihiro. The unreadable look on her face did startle him, because it was different than her usual smirk or even her completely red face from that time.

"After school, then," she said shortly, walking the short distance to her seat. Keima's eyes followed her form for a moment before catching himself. He shook his head and continued his conversation with his heroine… screw mob characters.

Despite Keima's wishes, he slouched up the stairwell to the roof a few minutes after school. He didn't want to be threatened by any more stationery for skipping again. She was leaning backward on the railing, her eyes trained on the door. Once he crossed the threshold, she pushed herself up.

"Took you long enough!" she picked up her bag, and Keima felt himself freeze up. It wasn't another present, was it? He'd made it clear that he hadn't been interested in one the first time.

"Ah, there it is," she exclaimed, reaching deep into her bag. She didn't pull out a present, but rather, it was a slightly crumpled sheet of plain paper.

"What is that?" he eyed it. If she was going to hand him a doggy-flapped love letter, he was going to scream and kill someone. She handed it over before going back to her relaxed stance on the railing.

"Read it…" he frowned at her, but complied.

" _Kosaka Chihiro_ _'_ _s Specs_ ," an eyebrow flew into the blue sky, "what is this?"

"You said you didn't know who I was," she shrugged, but her eyes were focused on some plant, "I figured I'd tell you a little more before I actually proposed what I originally planned."

"Proposed?" Keima repeated, his cheeks darkening a hue. Chihiro picked up the change in tone.

"Not like that, Dorky McDorkson…" she replied, "read the freakin' paper."

Keima sighed… he should be reading some game text right about now, not whatever this drivel is.

 _Kosaka Chihiro_

 _Possibly the best girl you can encounter in this school. With beautiful short brown hair_ (Keima scoffed) _and the most expressive eyes you_ _'_ _ll find_ (Keima scoffed even harder at that), _she_ _'_ _s a real catch. She_ _'_ _s of great_ _temperament_ _and has an awesome, fun-loving personality._

 _Age: 17 (2-B)_

 _Likes: meatbuns, magazines, money, jokes and pranks_

 _Dislikes: school, thinking of the future and losing_

 _Charm Point: why would she need one? She_ _'_ _s perfect without one._

 _BWH: Screw you, they_ _'_ _re fine!_

Despite Keima's disbelief at the blatant lies on this paper, that last comment did amuse him. Keima did appreciate irony, after all. Still, what was even the purpose of this?

He scanned through the rest, but it was fairly standard, minus the self-praising tone of the writing, and the fact that the spider chart at the bottom gave her a near perfect score in most aspects which he would have given her an average at best.

"Seriously, what is this?" he indicated to the paper.

"Just so you know," she said brightly, "though did you read the last line?" His eyes quickly fell to it and he read it out loud.

" _Just to make it clear, I don_ _'_ _t actually like you :( So sorry about that_ …" he read blandly, but for the last apology, Chihiro spoke up as well, her tone a lot closer to what she had intended while writing it.

"I was pretty insulted when you said you didn't know the note was from me, considering we're in the same class," she half-smiled, covering whatever bummed expression her thoughts would have normally given her, "but then when I consider what happened before, and the fact that you knew so little about me that you couldn't even put a name to me… it was rude of me, and I'm sorry."

Keima was shocked at that twist… he'd been half-expecting another half-assed confession like last time, but what he'd gotten was the exact opposite. It was a well-meaning taking back of said confession, and an apology.

"It's fine…" he nodded, folding up the paper, "I don't know what you were even thinking, but you seemed to dislike it as much as I did. There's no point of holding it against you."

Chihiro shot him a grateful smile.

"Yeah, we could just call it a foul and not have it count," Keima gave a slight nod in agreement.

"So is that all?" he asked. Chihiro shook her head.

"That just addresses the note… I haven't reached the point of why I'd even written it in the first place."

Keima sighed… so he hadn't even reached the halfway line of this conversation, huh? His impatience completely went over the girl's head, by the smile growing on her face. She brought out her flip phone, and pressed a few buttons. Not even a second later, he heard his own voice.

"… _even if we're talking about the real, I know I can do a better job than you with regards to romance."_

Keima's eyes narrowed, which was just the reaction Chihiro had hoped for.

"You acknowledge that you said that, right?" the smile only contorting into a smirk as she said that.

"Why do you even have that?!" He asked, outraged. Her voice remained as even as it was before.

"You acknowledge that you said that, right?" she repeated, her smirk reaching a level that would have scared Keima, had he not been irritated at being recorded.

"I did, but why were you even recording me?" she shrugged, snapping the phone shut.

"That's just one of the things I do," she shoved her hand into her skirt pocket, "so do you actually believe you would have better luck scoring a date than me?"

Keima didn't even need to think to answer that question. He pushed up his spectacles with a long index finger.

"Of course…"

"Have you ever actually tried… asking a girl out who isn't in a game?" Chihiro's hands fell to her hips, an air of superiority coming over her. She was near certain of what the hermit's answer would be to that question.

"I have not," he said, but his confidence didn't dip or rise at that admission, which bothered the girl, "however, I'm the God of Romance… I highly doubt the world can throw something at me that I haven't seen before."

Chihiro stared blankly at him. She'd never touched a dating sim in her life, but she was sure that there was very little overlap in terms of what a real relationship is and whatever crap he learnt from those games about relationships…

"You're that confident, huh?" Chihiro laughed humourlessly, "Man, I can't wait to see your face when you're wrong!"

"What!?" Keima muttered. Chihiro suddenly stepped closer, so they were eye to eye.

"If you're so confident that a girl would say yes to you, show me… your experience means shit in the real world!" Keima stood his ground, despite the natural urge to step back or look away from this girl who only seemed to be getting angrier. His temper seemed to be rising in turn.

"If you think you have more experience than me, you are clearly wrong as well," he spoke calmly, but his arms folded, "how does your many rejections even count as experience?"

"It counts more than your fake-ass relationships!" Chihiro yelled.

"They're not fake!" Keima yelled back. If they weren't already glaring daggers at each other already, they sure were now.

It took a few seconds of Chihiro imagining herself beating the shit out of the boy to gain some of her composure. By this point, Keima's sharp eyes had dulled, and he'd pulled up his PFP… why had he even got so worked up about this stupid discussion.

"God, I hate you!" she spat.

"At least we agree on something…" he muttered. He considered bringing up the fact that it was her who confessed to him in the first place, but it seemed counterintuitive, and would only keep her here longer, "great talk… can I go now, Chihiro?"

"Will you stop calling me that!?" she protested angrily.

"Will you stop annoying me then?" he shot back. When she didn't reply, he turned around.

"ASS!" she lifted her leg and landed a well-aimed kick on his backside, causing him to stumble and nearly drop his PFP. As he looked up, he noticed she was already running down the stairwell. He was okay with that view…

Heck, he'd be happy if she never spoke to him again.

* * *

Of course, his wish lasted for all of one day, as he opened his desk after lunch to yet another note.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the note and tore it in half. His sister, who had followed him in, was shocked at the sudden brutality of her older brother.

"Waah, Nii-samaa!" she grabbed the pieces from his hand, "you can't do that."

"Watch me," he smirked. He tore it into fourths… then eighths… somehow, his irritation was fuelling him even further, but some sarcastic clapping from his left stopped him in his tracks.

"Woow…" Chihiro appeared in his vision, her hands still slowly clapping, "Otamega's chicken arms can tear through that whole stack of paper…" she stopped clapping, "though you must be super mad at the person who wrote that…"

Elsie scuttled to Keima's side, confused, and a little bit scared at her slowly approaching classmate.

"Nii-sama, who is she?" she whispered softly, but Chihiro's quick ear picked it up easily.

"Kosaka Chihiro," she introduced, just in case the other Katsuragi sibling hadn't known her name, "also known as the writer of the note which your brother is happily tearing."

Elsie's eyes widened. She didn't really know much about Chihiro, but the jovial tone she was using was worrisome in its own way, and she was pretty sure that the normal girl wouldn't take to her brother tearing that note lightly.

"Nee, Elsie-san," Chihiro directed at the younger sibling.

"Yes," Elsie froze, her back pin straight and her round eyes still struggling to take in the situation.

"Would you say that your brother could get a girl if he tried?" Elsie was about to reply before Chihiro raised a finger, "a _real_ girl, just to clarify…"

Even Keima, who really didn't care for this conversation, was a little expectant for that answer.

"Ahh… Umm…" she looked between her brother and classmate, whose brown eyes were staring her down. Elsie squeezed her purplish eyes shut.

"No," she squeaked. It took a second for her classmates to react, but boy, when they did…

Chihiro punched the air above her in victory, and even Elsie's normally stoic brother was giving her a betrayed look.

"But Nii-sama, you don't even like girls…" Elsie defended, before suddenly buckling to a new added weight on her shoulder. Chihiro had, very exuberantly thrown her arm around Elsie's shoulder.

"Seriously, Elsie-san… I will be your best friend forever," the normal girl then stuck her tongue out at Keima, "Though Otamega, how does it feel when you don't even have your adoring little sister's support?"

Keima just shot them a dirty look, which Chihiro was just ignoring in her glee. Even Elsie seemed a little happy at the new friend she'd just made.

"What do I have to do to make you go away?" Chihiro sobered up fast enough to respond to that.

"Simple," she replied without her previous amusement, "if you can prove me and your sister wrong, I'll do whatever you want…"

"Even if I just want to be left in peace?" Keima asked hesitantly. The girl pulled her arm off Elsie.

"Sure," Chihiro agreed, "if you can prove me wrong, I will literally 'go away'," she waved her arms and fingers as if she'd magicked herself away.

Keima considered it for a moment… even before that stupid confession, Chihiro had a presence like a mosquito… just there, until it starts buzzing in your ear and stinging you.

And she'd just offered him the chance for her to stop talking to him altogether if he did one simple task.

"However," Chihiro got his attention again, "if you can't prove me wrong, not only do I get gloating rights, but I'll also have you be my slave for a week…"

"So it's like a bet?" Keima clarified.

"Exactly…" she agreed, a broad smile on her face, as her elbow landed on Elsie's shoulder again, "if I manage to score a guy first, you'll be my slave… or if you score a girl first, I will acknowledge that you're more than just an Otamega and I will never talk to you more than the absolute minimum…"

Keima considered that for a moment.

"Also, just so you know, if you do not accept, I will badger you until you eventually do…" Keima shivered at that thought.

"What are the specifics to this?" He asked, but that was enough to assure her that he had accepted. She smiled impishly.

"Let's meet up and discuss it…"

"Meet up when?" he frowned.

"You know… you must have read that note, considering you ripped it up already," she indicated to the sheet that was in his hand. The smile on her face made it perfectly clear that she knew he'd never opened it before he'd destroyed it.

With a wave, she went back to her seat.

"Oh, and bring Elsie-san as well…" she put as an afterthought. Keima just sighed and pressed the power button on his PFP, annoyed that so many conversations lately had run long enough that his screen had gone to sleep…

Elsie, on the other hand, was actually pleased at this development... confused, but pleased…

* * *

 **And there you have it... it took a bit longer than I'd have liked to get to the bet starting, but I was having some difficulty with giving Keima a reason to accept the offer in the first place, so I figured one whole chapter of her annoying him might do the trick.**

 **This was actually a point brought up in one of the reviews, so I figured I would answer it. That point being the characterisation in this story. It's an issue I seem to run into a lot, especially with Keima.**

 **So Keima in this story isn't really like his manga counterpart- he does still worship his games and hate the real, but he seems to take more offence to people insulting him and his games, and he's a little dense as to what his reputation is, which is kinda why he accepted the bet in the first place.**

 **Chihiro's kinda different too... for one, she is ruder and brasher to Keima than is actually necessary, and if the last chapter taught you anything, she is hella impulsive and kinda a bitch.**

 **As the story goes, they do mellow out and learn more about each other and find out more about their strengths and flaws, but as they are now, they aren't the most likable of people. Hopefully you can still support them, even like that.**

 **Review Time:**

 **Qruis- You're reading fanfiction in class? Nice! I never did get the hang on that skill.**

 **I hope you enjoy this... if you can actually see the ending, kudos... I'd be interested in seeing how you imagine this ending, so feel free to send me a PM.**

 **NotAnAuthor504- Thanks for the kind words. I'm pretty excited for writing this too. Though coz it's me writing this story, it's a no-brainer who the end couple is. As for whether Keima or Chihiro wins... well, you'll see ;)**

 **Shawn Raven: I am using your review as the unofficial summary of this story, because I seriously could not have come up with a better way to sum up the insanity and ridiculousness that is this bet and what will follow that.**

 **Look forward to it.**

 **xellos540- To clarify, it is their second year... after rereading it, I realised it is a bit ambiguous, so sorry. Though how it joins with canon... it kinda doesn't. Maybe you could say that it matches with the start of TMBD in the sense that majority of the characters haven't really talked to each other, down to the point where Keima doesn't even remember Chihiro by name... though Chihiro's mob character status plays quite a bit in this story, so that is why I chose to have Keima not know, or even care, who Chihiro is.**

 **You are exactly right... I had been unhappy with how chapter one ended, but with the bet only being hinted at, I didn't think there was any place I could take it. You can just imagine it ended with Chihiro laughing herself off the roof and nearly tripping down the stairs.**

 **Though with which characters Keima and Chihiro will have conquer... Keima already has a pretty fine harem of lovely girls to choose from... if you wanna hear about Chihiro's choices, lemme PM you about that.**

 **Though I have to say... I really love you guys. Not only do you leave me reviews, but you look at my stories in a way that I hadn't even thought of them... it's always interesting to hear what you have to say, so please continue.**

 **Till next time.**


	3. Well, at least that's over and done with

**Hi guys... welcome to chapter three of this hellhole... honestly, I was a lot more positive a minute ago, but I did the whole author's note and review reply thing, only to somehow not save it...**

 **I had been planning to alternate between this story and DMT, but the most recent chapter still has two scenes, and it is taking forever... hopefully I'll have it up this weekend.**

 **In the meantime, enjoy!**

* * *

After School: the Motivated went to clubs and the Lazy went home… however, these three students hunched over a desk in the 2-B classroom were on a mission, despite forming part of the former.

"So are we okay with this?" Chihiro swivelled the paper to Elsie, who was a few feet on her right. The girl read the amended part and nodded.

"What about you, Nii-sama?" Elsie moved the page toward him. Unlike the other two, who had their heads close, like they were in some basketball pep-talk huddle, he was further away and absorbed in something much more important…

Namely, why Haruka was being so distant, despite the fact that he was already two thirds done with her route…

"Nii-sama…" Elsie repeated. Chihiro had less patience, judging by the way she snatched the paper out of Elsie's hand.

"Pay attention, Otamega!" she slapped the paper on his PFP. If he was surprised, he hid it well, "Now, are you okay with this this?"

His eyes scanned through the text, which just summarised the last half an hour of his life he'd wasted… unfortunately, this was just the start of it.

 _ **Contract**_

 _This document is to certify that Kosaka Chihiro and Katsuragi Keima of class 2-B of Maijima Academy's high school division are now participating in "The Bet", which will ensue following the signing of the document by both parties and "the Witness," who is a classmate and sibling to both parties respectively, Katsuragi Elsie._

" _The Bet", as agreed upon by the aforementioned parties, is for either person to engage with students outside of this contract, and eventually pursue a romantic relationship with one of them. The person whom either party is interested in pursuing will be referred to as "the Partner," from here on. The first party to reach that goal will reign victorious._

 _The following terms allow for victory:_

‒" _The Partner" suggests a more serious relationship, or requests to be either party's girlfriend/boyfriend._

‒" _The Partner" instigates a kiss._

‒ _For either of the previous clauses to hold true, neither party may instigate, or even hint at, any of the clauses mentioned. Doing so will automatically disqualify "the Partner" from being eligible in terms of "The Bet"._

 _People who are eligible to be "the Partner":_

‒ _Any person who is in high school._

‒ _Any person who is NOT related to either parties, be it siblings or cousins._

‒ _Any person who is NOT a close friend to the party in question._

‒ _Any person who has NOT read this document._

‒ _Any person who has NOT previously gone on a date with the party in question._

‒ _Any person who has NOT been discounted by the 3_ _rd_ _clause for victory._

 _The rules of "The Bet" are:_

‒ _If one party has a date, they must inform the other party of the place and time, and must do so truthfully. If any changes are made closer to the time, the second party MUST be informed._

‒ _The parties stipulated in this contract are allowed to ask out "the Partner" with regards to the first date, but any further dates must be decided by "the Partner", and any action done by the party in question will result in "the Partner" being disqualified, as per the 3_ _rd_ _clause for victory._

‒ _Sabotage by the other party is allowed._

 _The rules in regard to Sabotage are:_

‒ _I_ _n any given date, only one trap may be planned._

‒ _The trap must be executed in three minutes, and whether it is successful or not, the sabotaging party MUST leave._

‒ _Sabotage can include anything. But physical violence against the other party or their partner is highly discouraged._

 _These terms and rules can be brought up anytime, and if any party feels their partner was unjustly disqualified, both parties must attend a meeting with "the Witness," who makes the final calling._

 _Only one person may reign victorious. If Chihiro is to win according to the terms previously stated, Keima will be her slave for a week (seven days), commencing on any day of Chihiro's choosing. If Keima is to win according to the terms previously stated, Chihiro will refrain from referring to him with any rude names, and keep communication between the two to a minimum._

 _The duration of the bet is from the moment this paper is signed until one party achieves victory according to the clauses stated previously. However, if the dating and sabotaging cycle continues, and no winner has been found by the last day of the school year, (i.e. the last day of Second Year), "the Witness" will be crowned the winner and both parties will become slaves to "the Witness" for a week._

 _Signed on 13/05/2010_

 _Kosaka Chihiro Katsuragi Keima Katsuragi Elsie_

When his eyes surfaced up from the paper, both Chihiro and Elsie were watching him expectantly. He cleared his throat.

"Firstly, when did the terms of this change? I thought that the first person who scored a date would be the winner?" Chihiro rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I said that the first person to get in a relationship would be the winner…" Chihiro raised a finger to correct him, "just getting invited on a single date doesn't mean that the other person will remain interested and still want to go out with you, so that's why it'll need to be at least two dates…"

Keima frowned… this had only begun, and it already looked like it would get bothersome.

"So Nii-sama, what do you think of Chihiro-san's contract?" Elsie asked. Chihiro just seemed more puffed that she'd written something as weighty as a contract.

"The legalese is awesome, isn't it?" Chihiro piped. Keima looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure…" he spoke, obviously not meaning it, "I do have one more query…" Chihiro nodded, "why do I have to buy you lunch once a week?" he pointed at some fine print a little below the body of the text. Elsie took it back, shocked that she'd missed that detail.

Chihiro, the one who had actually written that unfair clause, pulled a face. Damn him for actually reading this paper properly. That contract was nearly 600 words long, yet he still picked it up.

"You could have ignored the fine print like normal people, you know?" she said in a disgruntled tone. Keima smirked.

"Once you remove that clause, I don't have any problem with this…"

Well, other than its whole existence... still, he was never going to get any peace unless he won this...

With a nod, Elsie cut through Chihiro's precious fine print… the girl let out an anguished wail…

She'd worked really hard to sneak that in, you know!?

With that, the paper was passed around and signed. Chihiro got over the disappointment of not getting her free lunch pretty fast, and was now admiring her handiwork… the contract looked pretty darned professional, in her opinion.

As Elsie was getting to leave, Chihiro put her hand up.

"Thank you very much for your participation, Ma'am…" she said solemnly. Elsie was a little shocked, but once she gained composure fast.

"And you as well… I will be in your care," she shook Chihiro's hand enthusiastically, causing the normal girl to smile.

As Elsie walked out, Katsuragi was behind her, but both his hands were stuck on his PFP buttons.

"Thank you for your participation, Sir," she spoke out, a bit more boisterously than before, "I look forward to our bet."

Keima's eyes drifted up, noticing she was waiting for a handshake as well.

"What are you even doing?" he asked, exasperated.

"This is the correct way to close off every business transaction, Otamega-san…"

Well, putting _san_ after an insulting nickname wasn't very professional, but whatever…

"Sure…" he replied shortly as he walked off, ignoring the hand,

He was about two metres away when she started calling him again with that same pseudo-polite nickname.

"What!" he yelled. She was at the door, holding a backpack that very much resembled his. He then realised that his back was lighter than usual.

Elsie stopped a few metres further as her brother groaned and walked back to the door.

He had nearly grabbed the strap Chihiro was holding out when she jerked the bag back.

Then, with a smirk, she held out her right hand again.

Keima's eyes narrowed, but he grabbed her hand for the damn shake which she was so insistent on.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Sir," she passed the backpack to him properly. His head jerked slightly in what may have been a nod, which only made her small smile grow bigger. She closed the door on his retreating back and flexed her right hand for a moment before returning to her desk, just intending to finish her homework before she went home.

Of course, with the books on the table and her mechanical pencil balanced on her upper lip, it was obvious that homework was the last thing she wanted to do. She moved the book to reveal the Contract again, now with everyone's signature on it…

Chihiro couldn't deny it… she was damn excited for this bet!

Something had been niggling on her mind since the day she'd confessed to Katsuragi… it was definitely that overly confident declaration that had irritated her, and she hadn't confessed to a guy since.

Or was it just that she was irritated in herself?

It took a few days, but she accepted the truth… she was getting nowhere with this method of confessing that she'd adopted. If she was serious about getting the guy, she would really have to want it… she would need to challenge and motivate herself…

She told him she hated losing… now, she had a rival to not lose to.

This was precisely why she thought up this idea for a bet.

The door slid open, and Chihiro quickly slid the contract under her Japanese History book. From the door entered her best friend and another classmate.

"Ayumi… Terada-san…" Chihiro gave them a smile.

Takahara Ayumi and Terada Miyako would have fallen under that 'Motivated' group of students, as both were active members of Maijima's Track and Field club. Chihiro definitely admired them for their dedication and stamina, but it wasn't something she particularly wanted for herself.

She wasn't a masochist, after all…

"Yo, Chihiro…" Ayumi gave her a little salute as she went to her desk, "Whatcha doing here?"

"Homework…" Chihiro replied unenthusiastically, "what about you?"

"Forgot my water bottle… Miyako just came to keep me company," she pulled a bottle from her desk, "I'll be off then…"

"Have a safe trip," Chihiro replied in that same flat tone. Almost as fast as they'd come, they were gone…

As exhausting as Ayumi's life sounded, Chihiro was a little jealous… at least Ayumi wasn't wasting her youth away like how she was…

Still, her eyes scanned the document yet again… this contract might be the start of an interesting year…

The door opened again, and Chihiro hurriedly shut the book, which covered the Contract. It was Miyako again.

"Did you forget something, Terada-san?" Chihiro swivelled around, her eyes following Miyako, which was a pretty clear sign that her presence wasn't welcome.

Miyako was no stranger for social cues. Still, most of her was curious, because she knew Chihiro wasn't normally a secretive person.

"Not really… I just wanted to say that you can call me by my first name… we are classmates, so it just seems too polite…"

"Really?" Chihiro rested her hand on her Japanese History book, "I figured you'd be used to it, considering that you're in a sports club…"

"Clubs and classes are a different setting…" Miyako shrugged, seating herself backwards on the chair in front of Chihiro, "for one, I do want to be friends with you…"

"Oh…" Chihiro said, for lack of anything better. Her body adjusted again, now with her arms holding down the book.

"Also, I wanna know what's the deal with the paper you're hiding…" an impish grin came onto Miyako's face as Chihiro's cheeks took on a red tinge, "is it a love letter?"

"I wish…" Chihiro mumbled.

"What is it, then?" Miyako leaned forward. Chihiro sighed, but opened the book and pulled out the paper and passed it to her.

"Wow," Miyako teased, "you must've been itching to tell me, considering how easily you gave that up…"

Chihiro wouldn't lie… a small part of her was pleased that Miyako was curious about her. Besides, it wasn't as if showing one person would be the end of the world.

"Lessee lessee…" Miyako turned the paper to face her. Miyako's eyes widened as she read further.

"What do you think?" Chihiro asked, her stomach doing small flipflops.

"Wow!" Miyako passed the paper back, a broad smile on her face, "man, am I glad I came back for this…"

"So you like?" Chihiro asked, still a bit hesitant.

"This bet would have been interesting if it was with any student… the fact that you made it with Katsuragi makes this the story of the freakin' year…"

Chihiro's mouth turned up…

"You really think this could be the story of the year?" she asked, looking at the paper.

"Uh huh… Trying to see Katsuragi first getting a girl then actually keeping her there may be the most interesting thing in the world."

Miyako's excitement started to catch on with Chihiro…

"Actually, I wrote it gender ambiguously, so if Otamega wants a guy…" Miyako paused at that.

"You think he's gay?"

"You never know… and in any case, if he does score a date, I also have the power to chase them off…" Chihiro said, her smile now just as big as Miyako's.

"With that whole sabotage thing, right?" her smile grew till it was nearly from ear to ear, "I thought this story couldn't get any more perfect, but it just did…"

"I know, right!?" Chihiro exclaimed, "But you can't tell anyone about this."

Miyako nodded understandingly.

"The school's newspaper would have a field day if they heard this, which is precisely why they shouldn't…"

Chihiro gave a grateful smile.

"Besides, anyone who knows about this paper is automatically disqualified, so it would cause problems for us… though I guess that disqualifies you as well…" Miyako laughed, before something occurred to her.

"Would it be evil of me if I flirted with Katsuragi and got his hopes up to only tell him at the end?"

"You should totally do that…" Chihiro agreed, "it is evil, but that would be hilarious…"

Miyako stood up, and put a hand on Chihiro's shoulder. From glancing up, she could see that her face was devoid of that smile now.

"It may be evil and against my morals," she spoke solemnly, "however, I will do anything for a friend…"

Suddenly, that smile returned.

"Though also because it'll be the most interesting thing I'll have done all year…" she started heading to the door again, "I'll be off now… be sure to keep me up to date."

"Sure thing, Miyako," Chihiro grinned, standing up, "not a word of this to Ayumi though…"

"I promise," Miyako nodded, "and of course, good luck on your bet."

With a cheery wave, Miyako left. Chihiro wondered if it was alright having told her, but she was certain Miyako was a trustworthy person…

Also, she'd gained a new ally… Sweet!

* * *

 **Like I said... deleted the last three hundred words I wrote, and I am not a happy chappy. Hopefully I remember the most of it.**

 **I know including the actual document of what their bet entails may be clumsy, or just plain bad writing, but it was a necessity, because they needed defining rules, and the paper itself has some relevance too.**

 **So reviews:**

 **xellos540- God, yours was the longest... hopefully, this chapter answered some of your questions regarding the rules... also, the sabotaging clause kind of levels out the playing field (though in a pretty brutal way), and both of them would need to work pretty damn hard to keep their dates interested...**

 **This bet is pretty much the backbone to the story, and it will remain relevant throughout... I'm not one for excuse plots.**

 **About Chihiro's paper... I just took it that she was joking... maybe on a more psychological train, it was more of a "fake it till you make it" declaration, especially when her inferiority complex comes a bit more into play.**

 **With Keima's harem, I think your second point is more on the mark... Keima doesn't know any of them by this point, and his criteria for choosing them is more game related... we, as the people who've read the hell out of that manga, will know the girls he'll choose very well.**

 **Shawn Raven- eh, this was almost guaranteed to be OOC, just because it's fanfiction, and I don't have the same understanding of Keima's character that Tamiki Wakaki has... still, hopefully the story will make up for that.**

 **NotAnAuthor504- weirdly, you have the same number choice as xellos... but thanks, I hope this hasn't disappointed, and I will hopefully see you for the first story arc starting next chapter.**

 **Esgee99- Welcome aboard... indeed, let the games begin!**


	4. We can't all be good at romance

**Yo yo yo! I am finally back with another chapter of Overboard... true, this should have been out a while ago, but I broke my laptop and lost everything on it. It was lucky that I was sending this story to a friend on Skype, or this would have been a gonner too.**

 **Without further ado, here's Chapter 4... and the first leg of the bet begins.**

* * *

"Oi, Elsie!" Keima called. It was louder than needed, considering that his sister was a few feet behind him, ironing clothes while watching something on the TV.

"Yes, Nii-sama," she replied, glancing at Keima. He was sitting on the couch, a school yearbook opened in front of him.

"The character roster for the real is too damn long! How am I supposed to choose a girl?"

Elsie sighed… was he talking about a game, or real life dating? Though with her brother, it made sense he'd use that kind of terminology.

Elsie knew Keima was a denizen of the game world… with 50 of the usual 24 hours in a day devoted to gaming, he only joined this world when it was utterly needed… that was why she found it hilarious that it took a few sentences for Chihiro to yank him by the leg and tie him to the real world.

"Though Nii-sama… how do you even know Chihiro-san?" Elsie asked. It was a fair question, given she had no context about why Chihiro had asked about his ability to get a date in the first place. Keima shrugged, not pulling his eyes off the yearbook.

"Who knows? She just started talking to me at some point, and then just didn't shut up…"

Well, it was hardly a lie, but there was a lot more to the truth that Keima didn't particularly care to share.

Elsie finished ironing the last garment before turning off the heater and sitting next to her brother. She grabbed the book off his lap and skimmed through the pages.

"Wow, there are a lot of girls," she noted.

"Yeah… Maijima was an all-girls school till about 9 years ago, so they still outnumber us…" he sighed, his head falling forward. Elsie could see that seeing the numbers and pictures in front of him was just depressing him, so she closed the book.

"Why don't we try something else?" Elsie clapped her hands together, "is there any real girl that you've liked, Nii-sama?"

He shook his head without hesitation. Elsie tried a different tactic.

"Okay… are there any traits in girls that you like?"

"I only like girls if they can fit inside my pocket…" he replied, but that was unhelpful and Elsie was starting to get frustrated herself.

"Not like that, Niiii-saaamaa…" she stressed, before pouting, "I'm asking about character traits you like…"

Keima felt his head slowly rise.

"Like character archetypes?" he asked. Of course, the word seemed to go over Elsie's head, as did quite a lot of her brother's game lingo.

"Arc-"

"Elsie, that's it!" he grabbed the book out of her hands, "I just need to find something that links games to the real, then I have something to work with…"

With that, Keima's motivation came back, and he pulled a pad of scrap paper in front of him, mumbling under his breath as he scribbled. Elsie was glad that he seemed to be better.

It didn't stop him from being a bit creepy, but still…

* * *

"So…" Elsie fell in step with a sleepy Keima as they were walking to school, "did you decide on something, Nii-sama?"

He paused, but it was only so he could pull his PFP from his pocket. Elsie had to wait a whole minute for him to reply.

"I thought about what said, and I came up with a strategy… however, I haven't decided on any girl…"

"That is something, at least…" she replied positively, "what do you plan to do?"

"I am… going to use my games to get the girl…"

Elsie suddenly imagined her brother with a console hanging off a fishing pole, baiting a small flock of girls.

"Not like that, stupid…" Keima said in a deadpan voice, "the only way I can win is if I assume that relationships in games and relationships in real life are similar," with a click of a button, the screen returned back to the game Keima had been playing earlier, "I figured that it isn't a completely ridiculous assumption, considering that this angel," he pointed his thumb toward the heroine, "was created by people who've spent their whole life being exposed to the real…"

"That's great, Nii-sama," Elsie clapped her hand, "so you'll make a real girl into your heroine?"

Keima stopped in his tracks, nearly sending Elsie into his back, but she stopped as well.

"Elsie…" he pushed up his glasses, "let me teach you something good…"

The younger sister sighed… he was at it again.

"A real life girl can only be considered to be a poor man's imitation of a heroine…"

The letters appeared in the air in calligraphy, followed by Keima's name, as he once again, coined another phrase that made no sense to the majority of the world.

"I can't blame you from taking that away from my conversation, but allow me to clarify… even though galge were made by the Real, they were made for people like the creators, and like me, who considered real girls to be unworthy. Galges show girls to be much more beautiful and wiser than their real counterpart, and they became an instant success… while galge heroines were considered to be the imitation of girls made of flesh and blood, the removal of the bugs that ruin the Real made those heroines superior and more desirable, and left the originals in the dust."

The words flew over Elsie's head, but Keima expected nothing less. He continued walking towards school, his eyes focused on his screen.

"Of course, some men may claim that real girls are superior than game heroines… they have either never played a galge, or they are lying to themselves…"

"Geez, Nii-sama!" Elsie yelled, "Explain it so I can understand it too!"

"Simple," Keima replied in a flat tone, "the Real and games have facets in common, but games are better… this is true in both the setting and the girls…"

"Okay, I think I get it now…" Elsie nodded, "so now, you'll choose a real girl and conquer her like you do with your games…" Keima barely nodded.

"But how will you choose a girl?" Elsie wondered. By now, they had just passed the large gate that lead into Maijima Academy.

"I haven't given that much thought… all I know is that I should only choose from girls who fit in an archetype that I have encountered in a galge. With that, the chance of success is the highest…"

"So you want a girl who is an imitation of a heroine…" Elsie concluded. Now, both siblings were changing into their indoor shoes.

"Though from the yearbook, finding one of those may be toug-"

"Move, Otamega!" an entirely new voice yelled. Before Keima could even react, he was bowled to the floor. The girl responsible laughed awkwardly as she pulled herself up and dusted off before offering a hand to Keima.

"Sorry 'bout that… I guess the wood doesn't have as much friction as I'd hoped."

Keima looked up to meet the smiling face of Takahara Ayumi. He scowled and pulled himself up on his own.

"Next time, slow down before you enter the school…" he groaned, his hand gravitating to the pocket he always kept his PFP in. Ayumi's smile faded.

"You should have moved when I told you…" she marched off to her shoe locker, as if he'd ruined her day or something. His eyes followed her till she disappeared around the corner to the next row.

"Waah, Nii-sama!" Elsie suddenly appeared by his side, but there was more excitement than worry on her face, "Was that a Meet Cute?"

More surprising to Keima was the fact Elsie even remembered that phrase.

"When have I ever told you about a Meet Cute event?" he asked.

"You tell me every time you meet a new heroine," Elsie reminded him, "that's the memorable that forms the start of every relationship, right?"

Keima didn't answer, and Elsie's word started a different train of thought… was the fact that she fell on him a worth enough reason to call it a Meet Cute? There wasn't anything cute about that at all…

Still, Takahara Ayumi definitely had great specs (for a Real)… she was the rising star of Maijima's Track and Field Club, and she was such a beauty that majority of the school was drooling for her.

Those kinds of specs almost made her worthy for being called a heroine… almost…

"Elsie!" the younger sister, who was still talking to him while he looked off elsewhere, pouted at him, "go ask around and find whatever you can about Ayumi…"

He felt in his pocket to find that it was empty.

He found it a second later, wedged between the wood of the platform. The screen was cracked, but as Keima went to on the menu and save it, the screen flickered and died, taking 20 minutes of save data with it…

"Nooooo!" he yelled in anguish. All that resulted in was him getting weird looks from the students coming into the school, and Elsie moving as far away from him, as if she didn't know him.

* * *

It was later on in the day when Elsie came to report on her findings… or rather, the sparse details she'd picked up. Keima's head fell into his hands.

"So the details you found were either pointless, or I knew them already…" he summarised.

"I'm sorry, Nii-sama… Ayumi-san just isn't the type to share personal information unless it's to her friends…" suddenly, a lightbulb switched on in her head, "but maybe you could ask Chihiro-san…"

"Why would I possibly do that?" he gave her a dead look, which Elsie ignored.

"She's a close friend of Ayumi-san's…" he only held onto that dead look.

"You tell me Ayumi's BWH measurements before you tell me that…" he spoke in a voice that mirrored his face. Elsie, realising her flub up, laughed nervously.

Still, the last thing he wanted to was confer with that Real who had done nothing but make his life hell. Even if he did want to, there was nothing stopping her from spouting lies and hindering his progress, because that was the point of the bet in the first place.

"No, he decided, "she's both a Track and Field member, and she's our classmate… there should be enough information from there to plan a conquest…" he grabbed Elsie's paper pad and flipped to the next page.

"Okay, when did you say her next meet was again?" Keima asked, now poising Elsie's pen, which he'd also stolen from her hand.

"This week Saturday…"

"Right now, it is Monday lunch… with club girls, they are harder to access after school, so I need to plan some events during the day… however, she is still a classmate, so I should take advantage of her during school times…"

He quickly scribbled down some model routes, while Elsie looked around to make certain that no one had heard his unfortunate phrasing.

"Actually, with Field and Track, they practice outdoors in plain sight of everyone… that shouldn't limit me as much as I expected…" he mused out loud. After a little more mumbling and scribbling, Keima looked triumphant.

"Takahara Ayumi's conquest will begin today!" he said with finality, "I will first wow her with my conversational skills, before striking at the field…"

"Nii-sama…" Elsie spoke in a small voice.

"THIS CONQUEST WILL BE MIIINNE!" Keima stood up and slammed his proverbial flag down on the bench, as if he'd conquered a new land.

"NIIII-SAAAMAAA!" Elsie screamed again to get his attention.

"What is it, Elsie?"

"You have cleaning duty today… Nikaido-sensei specifically told me to remind you…"

Keima's eyes narrowed… galge protagonists never had to worry about such a thing, unless it was part of the plot… shitty Real!

Still, as he glanced at the board of duties, he discovered that he was with the person he had been hoping to talk to in the first place...

He was about to praise reality before he remembered all the shitty things that reality was responsible for… like queues, the inability to survive more than 30 hours without food, and of course, Chihiro's existence.

One lucky coincidence was nowhere near enough to forgive all of those.

Though, as he was approaching Ayumi's table, another thing he hadn't considered occurred to him… what should he even call her?

For Keima, names were names and formalities were something he didn't care for. Unfortunately, he may be a very small part of Japan who actually thought like that, and he would end up ostracising Ayumi if he acted as if he was too close to her.

No… it was safer to just stick to her family name.

"Hey, Takahara…" he greeted. Ayumi, who'd be staring off into space, jumped in her seat.

"What?" she asked abruptly.

"I was just looking at the cleaning duties list and saw we were together…" he gave her a smile, "I'm looking forward to that…"

The hair on Ayumi's neck rose at the appearance of that smile… Otamega never smiled.

"What are you planning?" she asked accusingly. Keima looked mildly confused.

"Nothing really… we'll just be cleaning…"

Was this some kind of setup for getting back at her for running into him in the morning?

"I don't trust you…" her eyes narrowed, but it wasn't visible to Keima, as she turned away, "I'm practicing today, so you'll have to clean this classroom on your own…"

"Okay…" he answered slowly… this was not boding well for him.

All he'd done so far was being friendly… why the hell was he getting a cold shoulder?

* * *

At the end of the school day, Ayumi had left before Keima had even packed his bag. He was having none of that, considering he just stopped and scooped the contents of his table into his bag before zipping it closed and flinging it over his back. Elsie only caught sight of him as he was skedaddling out of the room

"Nii-sama!" Elsie yelled, running to the door. By this time, chibi Keima was already a third of the way down the corridor.

"Take my duties today, will you!?" he yelled back. It was clear he had no intention of coming back.

Elsie sighed…

"Your brother really is the worst, isn't he?" Chihiro's voice came from the side. When Elsie turned to follow it, she noticed that the normal girl actually had her head stuck out of the window, and had been watching the scene, "what's his rush even?"

"I don't know…" Elsie folded her arms, "him and Ayumi-san are supposed to be cleaning today…"

Chihiro gave her a wry smile.

"So he got mad that Ayumi was busy and left you to do it… makes sense…" her smile became warmer, "okay, if you're stuck cleaning, lemme help you…"

"Really?" Elsie's voice was tainted with disbelief. Chihiro shrugged.

"Call it 'an eye for an eye'… you make up for your brother and I'll make up for my friend," she pulled her head in, "besides, I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to be your friend…"

Elsie's smile broadened. Chihiro really was a nice person.

The walk to the supplies closet was silent, for the most part.

"So…" Chihiro spoke up, "would you be okay if I called you Ellie?"

"Ellie?" Elsie repeated.

"Ya know… Elsie-san is a bit of a mouthful, and I don't think I'm close enough to use your first name alone…" Chihiro looked at her shoes, a little bit embarrassed.

"Sure," Elsie smiled, "Ellie is fine…"

"Ellie," Chihiro repeated happily, "you can use my first name if you'd like."

Elsie suddenly stopped, an excited smile coming onto her face.

"Chihiro-san, can I have your email?" Chihiro was momentarily awed at how cute Elsie was.

"Of course," she brought out her phone, "I'm glad though… cleaning is a pain, but I at least got your number from it…"

"Really? I find that cleaning is quite relaxing…" Chihiro crossed her arms with a 'x'.

"No way… cleaning sucks… you're better off trying not to make a mess, rather than cleaning it up…"

Chihiro and Elsie argued the point all the way through to class, when Elsie remembered that she actually had more important information to get from Chihiro.

"I have a question, Chihiro-san…" the girl hmmed so it was clear she was paying attention, "can you tell me-"

She suddenly cut off. While her brother hadn't specifically mentioned it, was it wrong if she talked to Chihiro about Ayumi? Would Chihiro be at an advantage if she knew that Keima was aiming to ask Ayumi out?

"Actually, never mind…" she cut the thought. Chihiro face faulted. She quickly scrambled up.

"You can't ask something like that and just stop…" Chihiro yelled, rightfully annoyed, "if you have a question, ask it!"

Elsie felt herself sweat under Chihiro's gaze.

"Err… umm…" she looked around before seeing a pad of paper on the teacher's desk, "why did you make a bet like this, Chihiro-san?"

Chihiro fell back, surprised.

"What do you mean?"

"Like that day Nii-sama was tearing the note in his desk, you asked me if I though Nii-sama could get a girl. Both of you were waiting for my answer, as if it connected with some other conversation…"

Chihiro's eyes narrowed. Elsie was more perceptive than people gave her credit for.

"Nii-sama even said that you started talking to him one day… why would you randomly start if you hadn't talked to him at all before?"

That was no good… Elsie was gonna make her bare her guts about what happened on that confession day…

"Don't let it bother you," Chihiro hit her jovially on the back, "it was just one of those things that popped up, and your idiot brother claimed that he was more popular than me with the opposite gender… it became a bet, because I didn't believe that…"

Chihiro laughed loudly. That was a damn good reply, considering it came from the top of her head.

"Or rather… has your brother found anyone yet?"

If Chihiro was nervous before, Elsie was sweating bullets now.

"He has, hasn't he?" Elsie made a squeak, but that only came as confirmation, "who is it?"

"Nii-sama will get mad if I say…" Elsie replied. Chihiro nodded as if she understood, which Elsie was grateful for.

However, that feeling left as the barrage of character yes-no questions came that would put any Guess Who player to shame. Elsie was determinedly cleaning, while Chihiro helped until she found a new question to babble about.

Elsie was doing a good job giving nothing away, until Chihiro's last question.

"Wait, is it Ayumi?" Chihiro asked, her voice a lot less excited. Elsie stopped sweeping for a moment. Chihiro noticed the difference in reaction compared to her other questions, "Is it?"

"No, of course not," Elsie tried to brush off the accusation, "Ayumi-san isn't Nii-sama's type…" Chihiro wasn't listening though. She was leaning over the railing on the classroom's balcony.

"There he is…" Chihiro looked over her shoulder, "nice try, Ellie… he's watching Ayumi on the field right now…"

Elsie admitted defeat and made her way slowly towards Chihiro, who was now grinning ear to ear while watching the scene.

"If Nii-sama finds out that you know, he'll have my head…" Elsie groaned. Chihiro patted her on the back.

"It was inevitable, because he'd have to tell me if Ayumi accepted the date anyway… besides, you didn't tell me. I figured out on my own, so it isn't your fault…"

Chihiro suddenly pulled up her hands to her eyes, as if she was holding up binoculars. She nudged a hand, as she increased the fake zoom.

"The predator watches from afar…" Chihiro spoke, her voice now serious, as she focused on Keima with her air binoculars, "his prey: a single girl…" the focus went to an unsuspecting Ayumi, who was in the middle of stretches, "she is well-protected in her group, which leaves him waiting… waiting, until she leaves their protection…"

Chihiro's whimsical narration continued for a few more minutes, through Ayumi's warmups, the timed laps and the 100 meter sprint…

"But wait," Chihiro paused dramatically, "his prey is starting to exhaust from the exercise, and with the lack of water in the vicinity, she will be forced to leave the protection of the group…"

Her fake binoculars followed as Ayumi waved to the group and set off, the bottle swinging in one arm while the other mopped her sweaty brow.

"The predator has finally found his moment to strike, and he takes it… he sprints…" she followed his slow steps, "rather, he stalks… he mustn't raise any suspicions, lest the graceful prey flees and returns to safety…"

Elsie was trying her hardest not to snicker at Chihiro's narration.

"They make contact!" Chihiro exclaimed, as for the first time, they were in the same fake frame, "he plays innocent, as if he is like the rest of the group in hopes that she may let her guard down… his bumbling and clumsy attempt at conversation does not convince her, as can be seen by the tightening of her fist and the sharpness of her eyes."

Chihiro paused, and Elsie leant closer.

"Suddenly, nature falls silent… in a matter of milliseconds; the prey knows exactly what to do to escape. With one fist pulled back…" the ensuring sound scattered the birds from the trees, "prey becomes predator…"

"Waaah, Nii-sama!" Elsie yelled in alarm as her brother landed on the floor, stupefied. For the first time since the two girls had come out on the balcony, he looked up at them.

One girl watched Keima with worried eyes, while the other was leaning on the railing, laughing her ass off… no prizes for guessing which.

Chihiro calmed down long enough for one more straight-faced quip.

"Nature is a cruel mother…" she said profoundly before she died laughing again.

* * *

After that whole situation, Chihiro left him mercifully alone. However, it was clear by the next afternoon that Ayumi's conquest was just an uphill climb, and Keima didn't have any gear to deal with that trip. After Ayumi had slogged him in plain view of Elsie, Chihiro, and the rest of the Track and Field club, her view of him just continued to get worse, no matter what he said…

He complimented her running… he got a punch in the face…

He put up posters advertising the meet and wishing Ayumi luck… he got a sliding tackle for his troubles…

And playing cheerleader for her during practices… he didn't even know that she could do a wrestling bridge and break his head…

One killer headache and two aspirins later, he begrudgingly approached Chihiro. It was late afternoon, and she was doing homework in the library, with earphones in. He sat in the opposite chair.

He interrupted her headbopping by waving his hand in front of her book. If she was surprised, she hid it well, behind the smile that came to her face.

Odd… the only person he'd ever seen happy at his appearance was Elsie, and he was near certain that Chihiro didn't like him.

"You came for help, didn't you?" she asked, then Keima realised that smile wasn't happiness… that was smugness. Just the look on her face made him want to turn heel and leave, before he lost his dignity to this girl, but a small bit of reason stuck with him… he wanted to finish this bloody bet now… Chihiro was, unfortunately, the closest thing he had to an ally, in terms of Ayumi.

He nodded, and it was clear he didn't want to…

"I knew it!" She pumped the air. While the volume was par to her usual voice, Keima winced at the volume, and a few of the library patrons gave her dirty looks. However, she only noted the pained look on Keima's face. Her voice fell down to a whisper.

"You okay?" the look of slightest concern came to her face.

"Just a headache," he shrugged, "so will you help me with this Ayumi thing?"

So he also uses Ayumi's first name too… he's got guts…

She shook her head.

"It's not in my best interests to," she sighed, "however, it's also not in my best interest to let you get beat black and blue whenever you talk to Ayumi…" her cheek fell into her hand as she thought for a moment, "come talk to me tomorrow… I'll find another person who can help you…"

Keima looked a little shocked… was it just him, or was she being nice to him, considering she actually offered to find someone else's help? Or rather, did he even mention that Ayumi was the reason he had a headache?

"That… would be appreciated…" her next words ruined that.

"Don't assume that I'm being nice here," Chihiro clarified, "I do have my own intentions, and I do not intend on letting you win so easily… however, I do want you to have a fighting chance, just so wrecking your date will feel a lot more deserved…"

With that, she put her earpiece back in, effectively ending the conversation. Keima took it as his cue to leave, anyway.

* * *

 **Okay, if anyone called that the first girl was going to be Ayumi, have a cookie... though Ayumi will always be first girl, so I guess there's no surprise here.**

 **In any case, this does have some resemblance with Ayumi's original arc, but Keima's having a bit more trouble, and unfortunately, he doesn't have Elsie's power of changing her shorts into bloomers... so what will he do to win the fair girl's heart? Will Chihiro actually give him a hand, or will she shove him down the proverbial stairs?**

 **Either way, it'll probably be a bumpy ride...**

 **xXx**

 **So to the reviews- You guys rock, btw... I did not expect so many reviews, but I'm lovin' it more than McDonalds:**

 **Qruis- your actions made me laugh. I wonder how many loopholes you actually found in there... though honestly, I have no idea what kind of endings you had in mind (and especially considering that the bet has barely started), but if you wanna chat about it, feel free to send me a PM.**

 **Actually, I may PM you myself. I'm curious at the game idea you had in mind.**

 **And to answer your question, you read that properly. The characters have to be in high school... so yeah, Minami, Hinoki and Nagase don't count (though you could put Nagase in a loophole, because she is in their high school- I didn't say they had to be a student)**

 **Sorry about your favourite girls... maybe I can't write them here, but if you have an idea, I can probably write a Damn That Guy chapter with them.**

 **XxX**

 **hauserjohn6- I dunno if you're a TV Tropes person, but search up "Noodle Incident" on that site... then tell me what happened in your story, because I am way more curious than I should be as to how you lost your PSP and game key through a bet.**

 **Still, thanks... I hope you enjoy this.**

 **XxX**

 **Esgee99- Well, here you have it... and I guess you saw who made the first move as well... though it will probably oscillate between Keima and Chihiro as to who is actively looking for a date at any given time, so neither of them will have an insane advantage as to who's making the first move.**

 **Oh, if Miyako falls for him... well, they can date, but Keima wouldn't win while dating her, so it isn't in his best interest to do so. Interesting thought, though... don't worry, Miyako will act soon enough.**

 **XxX**

 **NotAnAuthor504- Hehe, thanks... Miyako will get to spice up the story in her own mobness soon enough. I'm pretty excited too.**

 **Hmm, I don't mind if you want to correct stuff... I don't have a beta reader (coz my sisters refuse when I write multi-chapter stories). I'll try to correct them after you point them out, so I'd appreciate the help.**

 **XxX**

 **Shawn Raven- Well, xellos did have some stuff he mentioned, so I may have a point in the story where Keima, Elsie and Chihiro amend the contract. For the meantime, this is fine... Indeed, let the planning begin!**

 **XxX**

 **xellos540- Okay, deep breaths... wall of text coming though, people...**

 **Where did Chihiro get the rules from? Eh, I bet she googled them... honestly, I kinda just made them up at some point based on what I knew was coming and other rules which just made sense to me... if it's the fact that it's out of character for Chihiro to make such a document... well, in my original draft of that, Chihiro referred to herself as "the pretty one" and Keima as "the dweeb", and there were a lot less rules.**

 **In the end, it was mostly to get the point across... I also personally believe that Chihiro would put some kind of effort with writing this up, because she was actually pretty excited about the bet.**

 **Hmm... I dunno, I figured that Chihiro and Keima not being allowed to date was a given, considering the nature of their bet. Besides, we need more conflict when they actually start liking each other, don't we? ;)**

 **Yeah, the 'close friends' was a better safe than sorry addition... as well as 'not being allowed to date an ex' rule. You don't need to worry so much about them, because they won't really come into play. Chihiro doubts he has either of those, though...**

 **Ah, you have a point about gender roles in this story... but think about it** – **there's 2 ways of winning, the one being the partner has to ask them out and the other being that the partner has to instigate a kiss... how many of Keima's conquests have done the latter in the run of the whole show? Don't worry, I don't plan on putting Keima at any disadvantage.**

 **That would indeed be hilarious... I should put that on the drawing board.**

 **I see your point about the sabotage actually putting Keima at a disadvantage, but I have no interest in changing it because: a) when it comes to planning, Keima is significantly better (so he wouldn't even need anyone's help coming up with ways to sabotage Chihiro) and b) isn't it more interesting that Keima and Chihiro would have to get more involved in each other's love lives? They literally would have no reason to need to talk to each other if this sabotage clause didn't exist, and I need a story here, man...**

 **Surrender just means the other person wins... though you're right... any real life contract needs to state all the ending options.**

 **Oh, there's a really specific reason I gave Elsie the option of victory... this really has the chances of becoming really messy, and it's going to be increasingly difficult for her to choose someone without any bias... I think giving her the victory is just fine.**

 **Ok, I agree with you on the contract copy thing... I'll make it so that there's 3 copies, and Chihiro was just holding on to it for the meantime.**

 **Just... if Keima would have her be his slave for the week, he would actually have to interact with her, which he's the least bit interested in... he just wants his damn peace and quiet...**

 **Oh yeah, the title changes started the last time I updated this. The "let's get this over and done with" is more Keima's attitude toward the bet, but yeah, it's just beginning now...**

 **More Miyako next time, and you'll see what she has in mind... I hope you don't hate it though... that would be a pity...**

 **XxX**

 **FrozenDeluxe- Hey, it's a new reviewer... yay! I hope you continue to enjoy the direction of this story.**

 **Unfortunately, no... this is an AU where there isn't magic, and Elsie is Keima's twin sister. I may mention magic as a joke, but there isn't any active supernatural plotline or Lune coming over to screw stuff...**

 **xXx**

 **So yeah, please keep them coming, guys. I love hearing your opinions and I'm always up to answering questions and concerns...**

 **I guess I will see ya'll next time. Bye bye, and thanks for being such great readers.**


	5. Frickin' Finally!

**Yo yo yo! I am back with the next chapter of this monstrosity. Considering all my recent chapters for my other story has been 100 words, this... is long... and next chapter is gonna be even longer. I was actually hoping to finish the arc now, but it would have been ridiculously long then. I'll be back in a few days though.**

 **So yeah, enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Elsie found Keima on the couch as she was towelling her hair dry. He was trying to sort through the last two days of interactions to find out exactly why Ayumi was being so difficult… if he could reach some conclusion, surely he could find a way to reverse it and avoid having to rely on that Real.

"What are you thinking about, Nii-sama?" Elsie plopped down next to him. His eyes didn't leave the papers that were littered all over the coffee table.

"Why every action I seem to take just ends up with me getting hit…" Elsie grabbed one of the sheets, which seemed to summarise his meeting with her at lunch today, and his offer to buy her a sandwich. Rather than her rejecting it, she just kicked him in the shin and shouted for him to leave her alone.

"I don't know, Nii-sama… it seems really nice for you to buy her lunch…" Keima nodded.

"That was exactly the intention… all these events have been me being nice, but the love points seem to be decreasing more than they're increasing…" he sighed, before pulling out his PFP, "when is the tsun part going to end, so I can get to the dere?"

With no particular regard, he lifted his legs up onto the table and shifted his attention to the more important heroine, in his mind, at least.

"Much better…" he sighed, as if he was a swimming man who was finally allowed to the surface.

For a few more moments, Elsie watched her brother relax, then practically melt into a puddle of goo around his PFP while crooning for Rei-chan… needless to say, he was being creepy again.

It was probably that reason which turned Ayumi off of him, even if he was being nice. Keima suddenly snapped back into his usual form.

"Ayumi should be grateful that any guy would pursue her when Goddesses like Rei-chan exist…" he said seriously. Elsie turned her head away to hide the smile that was coming on her face.

"Yeah, Nii-sama… you're a real catch!" Keima nodded agreeably.

"I am, aren't I?" he smiled, turning back to his game. Elsie smiled again.

Hey brother may be a bit clueless and game-obsessed, but she did consider him to be a good person…

If girls actually took the chance to know him, she couldn't imagine that he'd be hated... that much, at least…

* * *

"So…" Keima placed a hand on Chihiro's desk, "who was that person you had in mind from yesterday?" Chihiro glanced up from her magazine and sighed, before shutting it deliberately.

"It would be a conflict of interest for me to give you info about Ayumi… However, you can talk to Miyako… she's a friend and clubmate of Ayumi's, so it's nearly as good…" Keima scoffed.

"Nearly as good?" he smirked, "wouldn't Miyako spend more time with her than you?" Chihiro smirked right back.

"I've known Ayumi since we were in diapers," she shrugged, "childhood friends trump all…"

"I don't accept your usage of the word…" Keima said darkly. Elsie, who was watching from her seat on the left of Chihiro, could see where this was going.

"What? We're friends from childhood… how the hell is that not childhood friends!?"

"Did you live next door to each other?" Chihiro shook her head, "were you two like sisters?"

"Well, we-"

"Did you guys make any promise as kids?"

"What bullcrap are you even spouting!?" Chihiro raised an eyebrow, "we lived a block away from each other, and we have our own families."

Keima pushed up his glasses.

"If you can't even fit the simple conditions of TOYOTA, it isn't worth using that phrase."

With a glare, she stretched her leg and gave Keima a kick to the shins, making him lurch forward, into her desk.

"Go talk to Miyako…" she pointed a thumb to the girl in question, "maybe she'll talk some kind of sense to you."

Miyako, who'd been inconspicuously listening to the conversation while reading her book, looked up properly as Keima came up to her.

"Hi…" he said, scratching the side of his head, making his idiot hair wave, "Terada, right?" She nodded.

"Miyako is fine," she smiled warmly, "what brings you here, Keima?"

From the silence that came from the people both within the conversation and the ones who were just listening in, it was clear everyone was shocked speechless… heck, even Chihiro, who did have an inkling of what Miyako was doing, had to shut her gaping jaw.

"Oh… uh…" Keima's eyes widened as he tried to collect his thoughts, "Ch-chihiro said you could help me with Ayumi…"

"How so?" she wondered, shutting her book without breaking eye contact. Just that little thing was sending Keima's concentration to hell. He hurriedly looked to the floor.

"I-I like Ayumi… b-but every time I talk to her, she hits me…" he cursed his head. He didn't plan to tell her that at all, but his bloody brain wasn't working,

"I-I mean…"

"You want tips to win her heart…" she gave a tinkling laugh, "how about I give you some details of her interests, and maybe you can get closer to her…"

"R-really?" Keima looked up, but that was a bad idea. Miyako still had on that smile, and she was twirling a lock of hair in between her fingers, "p-please…"

"Okay," she looked away for the first time, but the relief was brief, "well… she likes long distant running… long walks on the beach… classical music… working at her parents dry-cleaning shop…"

By now, Chihiro was hiding her mouth behind her hand to stop herself from laughing… if it wasn't strange enough, even Elsie was finding some inconsistencies in character.

"Miyako-san, when is her birthday?" Elsie asked. She already knew the answer to that.

"Twenty first of October…" Miyako replied, giving a smile to Keima.

"Nii-sama, Ayumi's birthday was earlier this month…" Elsie piped.

"Te-terada-san… who are you talking about?"

"Me," she gave a slightly guilty smile before standing up, "I guess you could say I have a conflict of interest as well…" her eye contact broke just long enough that her eyes settled on his lips. With another smile, she pushed her chair in and walked out of the classroom, leaving Elsie and Keima in shock, and Chihiro in amazed amusement.

Miyako was freakin' good!

Keima walked to his seat, slightly dazed. Even Elsie was trying to wrap her head around that interaction, but considering that neither sibling had a clue about romance, it was clear to see that those thoughts were just sending them in circles.

Chihiro laughed internally and opened her magazine again. Surely, there was an article on this… aah, there it is…

"Wha- what the hell was that?" Keima turned around to ask Chihiro.

"I believe I would call that a real conflict of interest…" Chihiro laughed, passing the magazine over to him.

"Flirting?" Keima read.

"Just read it…" he humoured her. The further he read, the more his brain returned to normal. That was just a technique, but how was it so powerful? Why would she even use something that dangerous on him?

"Does Terada like me?" he asked, astounded, while passing it back. Chihiro shrugged and passed the magazine article to Elsie as well.

"That's something you're better of asking her yourself…" she sighed, "in any case, I guess I have something to say as well…"

"What?" Keima asked with narrowed eyes.

"Considering the hilarious display of your romantic ineptitude, I have decided that I'll get over my conflict of interest and help you with Ayumi… God knows, you need it!"

* * *

"Okay… so you wanted to know about what I'd done so far…" Keima was leaning against the wall with his PFP out. His companion was a few feet away, looking around the corner of the wall.

"Right," she agreed, her eyes following two retreating figures.

"Didn't you tell me that you were going to show me what I was doing wrong?" Keima's index finger tapped against the back of his PFP irritably.

"I did…" Chihiro replied, "and I will, too…" Keima felt himself becoming increasingly angry.

"Then why the hell are we stalking Ayumi instead of talking to her!?" Chihiro finally turned to Keima, who seemed to be becoming red with his repressed anger.

"Chill…" Chihiro held up her hands, "I'm just waiting till her and Miyako go to change, then we'll wait outside for them, and I'll introduce you properly to them…"

"Nooo… It's creepy when a guy waits outside a girls' change room… she's just going to hit me again…"

"Stop complaining, you'll be fine…" Chihiro glanced back and noticed they were gone. It was pretty clear that they'd gone into the change rooms next to the PE Storage shed, so she grabbed his arm and dragged him along.

"No, let me go!" he yelped while struggling.

"Look, I'll be with you… Ayumi won't hit you then."

"Let go-" Chihiro shoved her free hand over his mouth and continued dragging him with a strength that surprised Keima.

"Keep quiet and I'll explain…" she hissed. Once he was adequately calm, she let go with both hands.

"What the hell is wrong w-"

"Shh… do you want to hear what you've been doing wrong or not?"

Of course, the last thing he ever wanted was to hear from that shitty Real as to what he was screwing up with… but the faster he obliged, the faster this conquest would go, and the faster he could get his old life back…

"What?"

"Ayumi has been getting the wrong impression from the way you've been acting, and until you do something drastic, that is not going to change…"

"No shit, Sherlock… why do I need to be reintr-"

"Do you even know what she thinks your intentions are?"

Keima paused… he had never once thought about that.

"Why would she even be thinking about that?" Chihiro groaned and gave him an oh-my-god-could-you-be-any

"Look… you summarised all the times you saw Ayumi… what were the first two?"

"She ran into me in the school entrance… then she skipped out on duty with me…"

"A duty which me and Elsie picked up, by the way…" she gave him a dirty look, but got back to the topic, "then after that, the only thing you were to Ayumi was nice…"

"Exactly… that should have cleared up the negative impression fro-"

"Ugh…" Chihiro stopped him there, seeing that he still wasn't getting it, "let me put this into small words that your shrivelled otaku brain can understand…" she took a deep breath, "she thinks you're taking revenge on her for her running into you and skipping out on cleaning duty…"

Keima fell silent as he took that in.

"How does that even make sense? Because I was nice, doesn't it mean that I got over that?"

"No, that means that you're biding your time or waiting for her to drop her guard so you can exact your revenge…"

Unfortunately, Keima could feel her logic start to make sense... somehow…

"How do you even know this?" Keima asked. His hands started feeling for his pockets for his PFP.

"I, for one, actually understand how girls think…" she said smugly, "now, the resolution is simple… if you can just let Ayumi know that you're interested in her, she will start to vie- are you even listening?"

Keima wasn't, at least visibly. For the second time this week, his console had fallen out of his pocket in a scuffle…

"Oi," she snapped her fingers in his face, "listen when people are talking…"

"My PFP… it's gone…"

"It isn't," Chihiro pulled it from behind her back and waved it, "you kept getting distracted, so I'm holding onto i-"

"Give it back!" he yelled, grabbing it from her hand, but her grip was still hard. She pulled back.

"No way!" she tried to pull back, but he didn't yield either.

"Give it!"

"No!"

"No PDA!" an entirely new voice came, freezing both teenagers in their tug-o-war. Chihiro looked up fearfully, before recognising the owner.

He was one of the P.E. teacher's from the middle school section, and had taken Chihiro about four years ago.

She then looked down at their hands. Even though their fingers were touching, it was mostly a scramble to get more of the surface area, and it was obviously clear that NO ONE was holding hands.

"How is this even PDA?" Keima asked, but he let go. The console fell to her side. Oda-sensei sighed.

"There are three public display of affections that I will not tolerate: kissing, hugging, and flirting in front of any lesser used building. Detention for you two…"

"Come on, how was that flirting!?" Chihiro protested.

"I just wanted my game back," Keima groaned, "don't put me in detention with her…"

"Likewise, jerk!"

"NO FLIRTING!" Oda yelled again before pulling out his dreaded pad, "I will not take any excuses, Katsuragi Keima…" he wrote the name down, before turning back to Chihiro, "what was that?" he paused, "I know I taught you… hnngh… oh yes, Kitahara-san…"

"Yes," Chihiro agreed, "Kitahara Mio…"

She was okay with not being popular if that meant she could make up names… this whole accusation was a farce, anyway!

"Now give me that back…" Keima went for his PFP again. He expected Chihiro to pull back, but she didn't, which sent the PFP flying toward the door. Keima refused to let another one of his PFPs die a horrible death like the one from Monday, so he dove under it.

In the nick of time, he caught it, barely a foot off the ground and still intact.

"Phew," he sighed in relief.

Then, the change room door opened, hitting Keima in the face and knocking the PFP to the ground. He grabbed it off the floor, but the screen was a gonner already.

He looked up angrily to see had done it, and Ayumi was glaring down at him, now donning her running gear.

"Were you peeping on me, Otamega?" Ayumi asked in a dangerously low voice. Having already lost two PFPs to that girl, he wondered if he should just admit it and let her kill him… at least Keima would be in PFP heaven, rather than all these annoying Reals.

"I'm adding that to your slip, Katsuragi…" Oda spoke.

"Why are you believing her when you were just outside watching me fight with-" he cut off… what did Chihiro say her name was again?

Or rather, where the hell was she? Oda pulled out the detention paper from the perforated part and handed it to him, now with the second fake charge of peeping added onto it.

"Kitahara! Oooi! Kitahaaaraaa!" he wandered off, looking for her, and effectively leaving him with Ayumi and Miyako.

"I want some answers from you," Ayumi grabbed his shoulder, sending a disgusted shiver down his neck. He was about to deny it when Chihiro's words came back to him.

"If you can just let Ayumi know that you're interested in her…"

He could make this work to his advantage.

"I was," he said firmly, "apparently, if I'm nice, you're not going to take me seriously, so I'm doing this the hard way…" his eyes narrowed, "I like you, and you have a damn nice body!"

Ayumi, who would have normally slugged him for that, was completely speechless, and her face turned an appealing pink.

He did it… he got through to her…

Her grip on his arm slackened and she looked away.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked, but that hard edge she had to her voice was gone. She didn't wait for an answer, but rather started walking off.

"I'll see you at practice…" he called out. She stopped, and gave a meek nod. To say Keima was happy at the progress was a bit of an understatement.

"Ya know…" Keima turned around, and Miyako was behind him, "if you wanted to see a woman's body so much, you just have to ask…"

She winked and sauntered off behind Ayumi. The elation turned into a different, more stomach clenching feeling which he had mixed feelings about.

A clapping sound came from a few metres away, where Chihiro came out from the bush she'd been hiding in.

"You did it!" she clapped, a lot more genuine compared to that last time that last week, "who knew that Otamega had it in hi-"

She paused, noticing the weird look on Keima's face, and his sudden repositioning of his body.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," he groaned, as if he was in pain, "my stomach hurts a bit…"

"Must be the nerves," she shrugged, "well, good job anyway… you can go home now."

Keima was never more relieved to hear that.

* * *

In any case, Keima avoided Miyako after that day, but it made approaching Ayumi a lot harder due to them being friends… even still, Keima could safely say that the route was moving along… Ayumi would get embarrassed, and sometimes avoid talking to him, but other times, she'd be quite friendly toward him…

Then they dated and lived happily ever after, and Chihiro and Miyako stayed the hell away from them… is what Keima would have liked to say, but it just wasn't true…

Keima stood by the door of the infirmary, flowers in hand… Ayumi just sat on the bed, her hands cradling her bandaged leg, and her eyes red, as if she'd been crying before he'd come in.

He was at a loss how to act here. He'd dealt with a few crying heroines in his time, but this felt entirely different. For one, all the crying CGs that he had seen were made so achingly beautiful that they tugged his heart strings… In real life, however, he couldn't find those swollen eyes and her shiny red nose to be beautiful. It did tug at his heart strings, but mostly from the sympathy and awkwardness. He couldn't leave now, though… surely something like this would be a defining event for them.

"A-ayumi…" Keima spoke hesitantly, moving the bouquet behind his back.

"Don't call me that!" she snapped, "Why do you keep acting like we're so close?"

Keima sighed, before gently placing down the flowers behind him and walking inside to the guest chairs.

"Well, you know how I feel…" he shrugged, "I don't plan on stopping, so save your breath…"

For a few moments, he watched her. He could tell that she was getting awkward by the fact that she was scuttling away. His sharp eyes noticed something amiss, but he decided to not mention it… until he had more proof, at least.

"So…" he scratched his head, "how are you feeling, Ayumi?"

"What do you think… hurting my leg one day before a big meet…" she said in a low voice, "this was supposed to be a defining meet for me, you know?"

"How so?"

"This was a chance for all the second years to prove themselves… so the coach could choose a captain for next year…"

"Oh… but the year's barely started…"

It had only been a month since then… though that went to show how serious clubs were.

"It's just as well… my time hasn't really gotten better since last year, so I probably wouldn't have been chosen anyway.

That was the admission Keima was looking for. Still, he needed one last thing to push it over… or maybe, push her over. He stood up briefly and sat himself next to her, and she cringed away even further.

"Ayumi," Keima asked seriously, "would you kiss me?"

"Huh?" Ayumi made a slight sound, but it was clear from her cheeks that she had heard him properly.

"Will you kiss me? Or let me kiss you?" he started crawling toward her, and the reaction was instantaneous. With no regard for her "hurt" foot, she leapt off the bed.

"W-what is wrong with you!?" she yelled. Keima shrugged and made himself more comfortable.

"Rich of you saying that… you're the one faking an injury, not me…"

Ayumi really would have gotten mad at that bait, but she knew he was right… she was the one being weird. She sat down on the foot of the bed.

"I'd rather lose on my own terms, thanks…" her voice sounded snarky, but her eyes started welling up, "I tried so hard… is it so bad that I want to give up?"

"Yes," Keima nodded, "because you're not the type to give up… if you don't run tomorrow, you might regret that, and that is the last thing I want to happen…"

He stood up to give her the space back, before something smart popped up in his mind. He pulled away from the bed before he turned around.

"You know… games have a really good system in that you can replay levels if you want to get better… maybe running is like that as well," he shrugged his shoulders, "it's okay if you don't run tomorrow… I won't tell anyone."

Ayumi seemed to be thinking hard about something, so Keima decided his work was done. He started walking to the door.

"Wait!" he stopped and turned around, "do you think I could get better by tomorrow?"

"You've been practicing for a while now… I'm sure it's only a few EXP until you level up," he gave her a smile and a nod, "besides, it's been a while since I pulled an all-nighter…"

"Good," Ayumi said abruptly, "maybe you'll get your EXP and level up as a cheerleader…" she snorted, "then maybe you'll get a cute pink skirt."

"Hey, I take offence to that!"

Still, she was so excited she didn't even bother with removing the bandage. She just slipped on her sneakers and climbed out of the window into the sunset. Keima just shrugged and followed her… after all, they were on the ground floor…

She ran… he cheered and timed her… this impromptu session went on for hours, long into the darkness. It was about 9 pm before she fell to the floor, panting. Keima read her time, which was a solid two seconds faster than her original.

"You did it, huh?" Keima plopped himself down to her. Ayumi turned her head toward him.

"I guess I did…" she agreed breathlessly, "man, that felt good… we should have a few more of these sessions sometime in the future…"

"That wouldn't be a bad idea…" he mused. As his head drifted up, he noticed the stars dotting the clear sky.

It was no game CG, but he was pretty sure that this was as good as it got with the real world. He wasn't going to miss his chance.

"Say… if you win tomorrow, let me take you out sometime…" he spoke, his head still facing the twinkling sky.

"Hmm…" Ayumi extended that sound as she thought about it, "okay… but if I lose, you're feeding me a consolation meal…"

Keima chuckled…

"So either way, it's a date…"

"Yeah, I guess so…"

* * *

 **And there... we have actually gone through Ayumi's original arc, but next chapter will be the date, where the real test begins.**

 **xXx**

 **So it's review time, I guess:**

 **fss- Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.**

 **xellos540- Well, I hope Chihiro's "logic" cleared that up for you... though honestly, Ayumi's reaction to his antics in her original arc wasn't that different, so maybe you even guessed where Ayumi's thoughts had been going in the first place.**

 **Aww, give Elsie more credit. She is good at housework. Heck, there was at least one scene where she had her ironing board set by the TV and she was watching Kanon... though that may have been in the Magical Star Kanon OVA...**

 **I dunno what to say about the nickname thing... coz Elsie-san is like Nagase-sensei in the fact that it's a mouthful, so a nickname is easier.**

 **Oh yeah, I loved that commentary scene. I dunno, it just felt right, and because Chihiro is a sarcastic ass, it just worked.**

 **Chihiro was indeed going to call on Miyako as backup, and as you can see, her help is brutal. Is it weird because Chihiro's actually being a bit nice to Keima? Coz in that case, this chapter won't really help. because she did actively give her a hand, even though it may have been partially for her own amusement.**

 **Wouldn't you like to know ;)? Just wait a little longer, my pretty...**

 **Esgee99- You called it. Though you can see what Miyako's "help" ended up doing. In any case, I hope this chapter added onto the feeling of fun. This whole story is supposed to be fun anyway.**

 **NotAnAuthor504- I'll change that... though I may need to reword it, because it still feels weird.**

 **Indeed. This is an AU with no magic, and Keima and Elsie are twins. So far, Elsie hasn't interacted with most of the girls, so you could say that this was the start. As for whether it works out... I guess you'll see next time.**

 **Shawn Raven- Indeed... though honestly, it's his own specs which are making the girls less receptive, coz as you can see, after the broke the tsun barrier, things started going better for him. But yeah, he's a little naive.**

 **Why, thank you... loads of people commented on that scene, so I take it that it was a hit XD.**

 **Yeah, you were right to have doubts about Chihiro's intentions, but it worked out somehow... though mostly in Chihiro's favour. Keima is not enjoying the attention.**

 **hauserjohn6- Poor Keima indeed. Things are getting better for him at least. He's finally gonna get his date.**

 **Lmao, Chihiro is a bit too lemony a narrator, but hell, that doesn't sound like a bad job at all. She could be one of those dry-humoured reporters.**

 **OMOCHIKAERI! But yeah, I'd wanna take Elsie home too.**

 **All right! Lemme PM you now. You can tell me whatever story you're comfortable with.**

 **xXx**

 **Anyhoo, thanks for reading and for all the kind remarks. You guys are amazeballs!**


	6. Dates are easier in games

**Ok, here we go again... I'm so sorry... it's nearly been a month since I last posted this story, and I don't even have much of an excuse... I miss having my laptop and I did lose a big chunk of this story, but I even managed to salvage this... so I really don't know what's wrong with me.**

 **Still, this chapter turned out to be pretty long, and it covers the end of Ayumi's arc... it wasn't as funny as I'd been hoping for, but it did get the job done. I hope you guys like it... or at least, don't hate it...**

* * *

As you can expect, Ayumi kicked ass at her meet, and Keima got his date, a word which incited both happiness and terror within him. Sure, things were going pretty well with him and Ayumi, but there was a factor that could easily poison whatever flag either of them raised… that one, being Chihiro. The fact that her and Ayumi had been friends for long would just make her words a lot stronger.

Keima didn't bother dressing up… his parameters didn't matter, anyway, so he just wore a pair of grey pants and a light button-up shirt, figuring it was clean and casual enough for their date.

Though he may have creased it a little bit… he'd gone into his God of Conquest mode for two hours, due to his significant decrease in gaming time over the last week, and while he was caught up now, it probably didn't do much for his appearance… again, not that he cared, and as he said, the player's parameters don't matter.

"Nii-sama!" Elsie opened his bedroom door and nearly ran into him as he was leaving, "Chihiro-san wants to talk to you…" she held out her phone.

"I'm not home," he mouthed, "now go away…" Elsie sighed and turned around to leave.

"N-nii-sama left already…" she paused, but the more she talked, the higher her tone got, "no I'm not lying!" another pause, "okay, fine!"

She walked back and shoved it into his hands.

"She said she'll be quick," Elsie begged with her eyes. Keima gave her a dirty look, but answered it.

"What!?"

"So you two will be at Daisuke's Deserts at 04:30, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, was just confirming… you are talking about the Maijima one, right?"

"No, the Narusawa one…"

"Okay? I guess… why so far?" Keima shrugged.

"Who knows, she just wanted it like that… so is that all?"

"Actually, no…" she paused, "what are we accepting as sabotage?"

"Nothing-physical-it-takes-under-three-minutes-kay-thanks-bye…" he then shut Elsie's clam shell and handed it to her as he walked out…

"Waah, Nii-samaa!" Elsie floundered behind him, but he paid no mind. He had to get going soon if he still wanted to make a stopover at the game shop to get the new releases from Thursday before he met up with Ayumi. He stepped outside the house to only see another unwelcome face.

"Not you again…" he moaned, considering going back. He was already forced to see her later today… couldn't she cut him a damn break?

"Indeed," she nodded curtly, "I had more to say, which is precisely why I stopped here, rather than going into the café, like I'd planned."

"What is it!?" Keima asked irritably. This was why he was looking forward to the ending of this damn bet.

"What are your intentions with Ayumi?" Chihiro asked, a serious look on her face. Elsie, who was just coming from the door, stopped dead at seeing Chihiro.

"If it was anyone else, I wouldn't care, but Ayumi's my friend. So if you win, do you intend to stay with her until nature takes its course, or will you leave her as soon as you win?" Chihiro started walking forward, "Do you even like Ayumi?"

Keima was silent the whole time. For Keima, it was easier to see Ayumi as another heroine… precious, but ultimately fleeting, only to be replaced by the heroine of the next game. Her route had had problems, but he was nearing the ultimate end of it now.

This was why the real was shitty. The end was coming, yet there was no reset… and the last thing Keima wanted was to hurt her and get beaten black and blue in return. Chihiro impatiently pulled out her phone.

"Because I swear to God, if you plan to hit it and quit it, I'm telling her about this bet right now…"

Keima shoved his hand down on the phone. When she glanced up, he was looking irritated too.

"I hate everything about the Real…" he gritted his teeth, "no backspacing… no saves… people creating useless noise… however, I will never hate a heroine… so I have no intention of rejecting Ayumi if she does accept me."

"So you do like her?"

"No… I do not hate her," he clarified, "as much frustration and annoyance her route brought to me, she is ultimately a heroine, and I will take her to the ending, if she allows me."

That… was probably as good as it was going to get, wasn't it? She gave him a wry smile.

"That almost makes me not want to interrupt," she shrugged, and Keima looked a bit too hopeful, "It doesn't mean I won't, but in the meantime…" she stepped to the side and motioned him to pass.

"That doesn't mean I won't act obnoxious enough that she'll start to hate me, by the way," he said as he passed, "now if you will excuse me, there are some important heroines I need to save from the game store…"

Even Chihiro couldn't stop the slight smile as he morphed into a chibi as he skedaddled away.

"Ellie…" Chihiro grabbed Elsie's hand out of nowhere and brought her to the normal girl's side, "now how about we use your discount and treat your friend to a nice slice of cake?"

With an impish smile, she dragged Elsie to the other entrance… she couldn't believe that she hadn't checked out this place before.

* * *

When Keima met up with Ayumi about two hours later, he noticed that, like any girl that he'd ever taken out on a date (in games), she was dressed up. He'd only ever seen her in gym garb or school uniform, so the one-piece with a denim jacket over it was a cute look.

"H-hey…" Keima scratched his head awkwardly, "as promised, I left my PFP at home…"

Well, not at home exactly… he had a decent relationship with the cashier at his favourite game shop in Narusawa, so he'd actually left it with that guy, along with the new games he'd gotten today, but she hardly needed to know that...

Or rather, was he setting a bad precedence by having his first sentence be a lie?

God, was he this awkward when he did these in games?

"Sh-should we go inside?" Ayumi asked. It was clear that the nerves were getting to her as well.

"O-of course…" Keima wanted to do something romantic… like take her by the hand and lead her in… but then she'd know exactly how sweaty his palms were.

Why couldn't it just be like games? There weren't any scripts he could run through for this, and that was throwing him off even more than usual.

Ayumi looked especially cute today.

"Katsuragi?" Keima nearly jumped at the sound of his name. Ayumi was holding open the door, and Keima realised that he screwed up. Girls aren't supposed to open the door.

"So-sorry…" he hurried to the door, but his legs felt like lead.

"Man, you are awkward," Ayumi chuckled as he mechanically walked past her. Still, she didn't mention anything more of it until they were seated, and Keima's face had returned to its normal colour. He took a deep breath.

No… he couldn't let this date go like this… the real was backing him into a corner, and it wasn't like him to just take that. He'd gone on at least 2070 dates, so there had to be some experience he could bring up and use.

Like her appearance… tell her she looks cute! Keima opened his mouth.

"You're pretty cute… when you're like that…" Ayumi said in a small voice, with her eyes nowhere near his. Keima screamed internally at being beaten to the punch.

"T-thanks…" he scratched his head, "you look really nice as well."

Though was it really okay to call a guy cute? Isn't that more demeaning than being a compliment? Keima could use that line to change the power balance here.

"Though you know…" Keima's voice held even, "it's better to use the word 'handsome', rather than 'cute'… some people would consider that demeaning."

She looked up, a smirk on her face.

"Nope, 'cute' is definitely the word I mean here… you're just very different than you are at school, and I think that's cute."

"So you consider me cute then…" his face started mirroring hers, "what part of that was cute?"

"That…" she indicated toward his overly confident face, "that is not cute… I like you better when you're bumbling around…"

Keima paused. He was starting to gain his stride now with the whole conquest thing, but she liked him better when he was having trouble. Should he rather switch back to that persona?

Did that make sense, though? He was playing the bumbling nice guy for the earlier part of the week, and that didn't appeal to her at all… but being cocky wouldn't help either…

It was a careful balance. He could probably act like himself and just throw in an embarrassing moment here and there to knock him down a peg. That could be a strategy to appeal to Ayumi.

"Fair enough…" Keima nodded solemnly, "I will try to act more 'cute' then…"

"Much better," Ayumi said with a small laugh, "so shall we order then?"

Keima's eyes narrowed. There was his chance to do something a bit klutzy. While he raised his arm to flag the waitress, he purposefully hit the table with his hand.

Ouch! That hurt!

He had yet another reason to hate the real.

"You okay?" Ayumi asked sympathetically. Keima gave her a nod, but the pained look in his eyes and the fact that he was pressing his lips together made it clear that he was trying to downplay it.

"Are you two ready to order," the waitress came. Ayumi felt her heart jump for a second before remembering that they were nowhere near school.

"O-oh yeah…"

"Yes please…" Keima spoke with some difficulty, as he sat on his hand in hopes that the pain would decrease a bit. Ayumi found herself smiling a little bit at his antics. After placing their order, Ayumi stretched herself in her side of the booth.

"Though Katsuragi, what did you think of the meet yesterday?" Keima had to pause and think of a way to put it nicely, because "as boring as other real stuff" did not sound very promising.

Besides, he wanted to be boyfriend material, right? Suddenly, he remembered a line which fit quite well.

"Running… walking… falling… we all have to spend our youth someway…" he looked at the light somewhere above him, "running seems fulfilling, but with you, I bet it makes you feel the happiest in the world, doesn't it?"

His highly focused brown eyes fell on her. She didn't break eye contact, but rather, a small smile came to her face.

She did feel like the happiest girl in the world, but it wasn't only the running which brought about that…

Why did he have to be so creepy at school, when he was so decent without his game thing?

Both of them kept it casual… the further the date went, the more frequently Keima's eyes would drift to the door. Did Chihiro not decide to do anything today?

They were approaching the end of their meals when the café doorbell tinkled. Oddly enough, it was Ayumi who noticed it first… Miyako and Chihiro entering the shop…

Wha-what were they doing all the way in Narusawa!?

She gave a panicked look at Keima, who was lost in his own thoughts and was staring at his barely sweetened dark chocolate cake.

"Err… Katsuragi…"

"Hmm…" he looked up, before realising that he'd been daydreaming about the game he was currently playing. Now wasn't the time for that!

His eyes settled on Chihiro and Miyako, who were chatting to the cashier. Keima's neck bristled.

He knew that sabotage was allowed, but it was a low move to bring Miyako here to do it. He had no clue how this would play out if Miyako flirted with him in front of Ayumi.

Suddenly, Chihiro's eyes snapped to his, and before he could react or do anything, Ayumi shoved his head down under the table. Keima quickly eased himself under the table so he was more comfortable.

Why was he even hiding?

"H-hi… Chihiro…" Ayumi called, but the dragging quality to her voice made it clear that the last person she wanted to see was Chihiro. The normal girl pretended not to notice as she waved back.

Keima groaned as he noticed a pair of legs approach. Miyako was still standing by the counter, but Chihiro was coming to talk to Ayumi now.

"Yo, Ayumi…" Chihiro hit her hand on the table, the sound made Keima cringe and move further away from both girls, at least to avoid detection, "how rare to see you all the way here…"

Though he was near certain that Chihiro had seen him just now…

He was right too. If Chihiro hadn't known that Ayumi was going to be here with Keima, she'd probably assume that she imagined it. Now, she knew for a fact that Ayumi had just unceremoniously shoved her date under the table.

That worked to her advantage, actually.

"Yeah, I was just looking for a change of pace…" Ayumi stretched casually, her legs moving under the table. Keima held his breath and edged even further.

This view was unnerving to him… seeing Ayumi's bare legs a foot from his head. He instead focused on Chihiro's three-quarter pants and trainers, coz they were a lot less distracting, and he had to hear what she was saying.

"That explains it," Chihiro's body weight seemed to shift to her other leg, "considering this place has another shop just by your house…"

At first, Keima found that information odd… it was almost like exposition, but who would even care?

"Y-yeah…" Ayumi replied nervously. Her legs were starting to twist uncomfortably as well. Keima wanted to curse Chihiro for making this awkward.

Wait, he better time this… she'd be forced to leave in three minutes. He quickly brought out his phone and turned on his stop watch.

"Are you eating with someone?" Chihiro asked. Keima's cake was still visible on the table.

"N-no!" Ayumi burst, her upper body leaning forward as she pulled the cake closer to herself, "I was just hungry, so I ordered it for myself…"

"And you're eating both of them at the same time…" Chihiro asked in an even tone. Keima could only imagine one of her eyebrows in the air, a completely sarcastic look on her face. Chihiro then laughed, "well, you're a growing girl… gimme a bite too…"

"W-what?"

Keima backed away further as the other girl climbed into the booth from the other side.

"Come on, just a bite… you know I like dark chocolate…" the plate landed on the table noisily, "though where's your fork?"

Keima looked in his hands. He was still holding it, so he quickly put it on the seat next to Ayumi.

"Seems like I dropped it," Ayumi replied, picking it up from the seat. It did make it seem more plausible that the fork was on her side.

Other than the scrape of cutlery, it was silent, till Chihiro let out an approving sound.

"That is a good cake!" Chihiro exclaimed, "I should ask Miyako to get me some…"

Oi, don't eat people's cake… and don't get other people to buy you cake…

Chihiro got up, and Keima breathed a sigh of relief. In any case, with the minute he'd timed now, and the minute or so that he hadn't, she'd be done now.

"'Kay, I should get back to Miyako," Chihiro said cheerfully, "apologize to your boyfriend for me…"

Keima groaned.

Another loud clang came, this time originating from Ayumi's side of the table.

"I said that there's no one here!" Ayumi protested.

"You know you can't fool me, right?" Chihiro shrugged, "you've been acting weird, so there obviously is a guy…"

Ayumi didn't protest to that.

"I won't bother you about it, but can you at least tell me who he is?"

Ayumi must've responded by some body language, coz Keima didn't hear an answer.

"Well, I can't force you…" Chihiro replied to whatever that was, before walking off a bit further, "though you know I won't judge, regardless of who it is…"

Keima couldn't tell if she was a lying hypocrite… her voice was a lot less boisterous than what she'd used on Keima normally, and it honestly sounded sincere…

That's a no brainer… it's because him and Chihiro aren't friends…

In any case, what did Ayumi have to say about that… would she tell Chihiro about him?

"Sorry, I can't…" Ayumi whispered, barely loud enough for Keima to hear.

Chihiro sighed.

"Considering you can't tell me, and that you purposefully left Maijima to go on this date… I hope you think long and hard before accepting another date with him…"

Chihiro started walking away for good. Her words weren't particularly profound, but Keima felt his stomach sink with them.

Ayumi had chosen a place which clearly had a closer franchise… she didn't want to run into anyone from school… when she did run into someone, she had him hide… and of course, there was his nickname, Otamega…

She was embarrassed of him…

That realisation hurt even more than hitting his hand against the table did.

Keima crawled out of the table, now Chihiro wasn't looking at them. When he stood up, his fringe was casting a shadow on his eyes. Ayumi could tell that he'd put two and two together.

"I'm sorry, Katsuragi…" she spoke softly. Keima sighed.

"I probably should have known that my reputation would have some kind of parameter here…" he shrugged, and his eyes came back into the light. It didn't make it particularly better though. Ayumi had seen him make a few expressions this last week, but none like the defeated one he was sporting now.

He turned to her.

"Sorry I asked you on a date…" he scratched his head for the third time on this date, but the awkwardness was nothing like the other times, "I'll let myself out then…"

Ayumi groaned. This wasn't the way she wanted to talk to him about this.

"Look, Katsuragi…"

"No, I get it… you need to keep up your good reputation, and Otamega probably isn't helping…" he turned away.

"No, Katsuragi," Keima paused again and glanced over his shoulder. Ayumi was glaring down the table.

"What is it?"

"I don't know!" Ayumi's teeth gnashed together, "I don't want to be with you… but I can't deny that I had fun with you during these last couple of days… I don't want you to go back to how you acted before this week…"

Keima sighed. While he didn't encounter this kind of bad end scenario often, he wasn't a stranger to this. It was different though… he'd just normally restart the game and do it right… if there was even a reset, he had no clue how he could fix this anyway…

"Can we be friends, at least?" Ayumi dropped the guillotine question on their relationship. Keima shook his head.

"That doesn't solve the biggest issue of me being Otamega," he shrugged, "besides, I have no need for friends…"

As Keima started leaving, a part of him was happy for having spoken his mind… another part was cursing Chihiro for influencing his thoughts as well. Them not having another date seemed to be a mutual decision, but he'd been the one to reject any offer of friendship.

He wasn't wrong, though… Keima didn't need friends… he'd never had friends for most of his life, and he turned out alright…

He didn't like Ayumi that much anyway… all she'd really done was beat him and indirectly force him to team up with the worst person in the world in hopes of actually winning her over…

He internally shrugged. After the initial disappointment, he didn't feel particularly bad. It wasn't like Maijima was running low on girls, and all he had to do was choose someone who stood up to him a lot less. In fact, by the time he'd made it outside, he was already thinking about the game he'd been playing before he'd come here...

* * *

Why the hell didn't the real have a Rei-chan imitation?

Rei was so kind and beautiful and loving… yet, he was stuck with people like Chihiro, who was the exact opposite.

Ugh, and she's here again… she was leaning against the wall, watching the door.

"Oh, it's you…" Chihiro said in a disappointed tone, "I was hoping Ayumi would leave first…"

Keima didn't reply, his hands reaching for his pocket, but his PFP wasn't there…

He should have just kept it. It was a waste of fifteen minutes that he'd have to go to the game shop again.

"Though whatcha think of my sabotage?" Chihiro asked gleefully, "I thought it was pretty insightful…"

"Yeah yeah…" he replied in a bored tone, not stopping. Unfortunately, Chihiro wasn't done, considering she was keeping step with him… to gloat, most likely.

"Well, I consider my victory sealed…" she shrugged. Keima paused, but didn't take the bait.

"So you succeeded on messing up one date… how does that mean you'll win?"

"Simple… with your reputation in tatters and your personality being what it is, all I need to do is point out the truth, and any girl will be reluctant to date you…"

"I'd say your personality is way worse," he pointed out, "with my knowledge on girls, I can at least fix my reputation…"

Chihiro gave a wry smile.

"Fair enough," she stopped, "in any case, you better fix your strategy if you even hope to have a chance…"

Keima stopped abruptly, his eyebrows knotting angrily.

"What did you say?" he asked quietly. Chihiro smirked. She'd definitely hit a nerve there.

"You only got so far with Ayumi because I told you what her problem was. If you get stuck with a girl each time, you're screwed…"

Keima was a bit taken aback… while she wasn't wrong in saying she did help, he was the one who noticed that Ayumi was faking being hurt… he was the one who put in the effort and got her to agree on a date.

Thinking like he was playing a galge wasn't wrong. The real seemed to add an annoying parameter to its heroines, and if Keima was to enforce his logic more strongly, he'd be able to trump even that.

Now that he knew that his popularity did play some part in girls accepting him, all he would have to do is just change that… somehow…

"Not only will I continue what I'm doing, but I will win…" he spoke confidently. Chihiro was happy with that.

"Alright," she nodded, "I'm glad you have more reason to win than just getting rid of me."

"No, that is still my primary reason… however, I will do it for the honour of the games that have loved, and kept me safe for all these years…"

"Wait, are you talking about games or your parents?"

"You won't make fun of my games!" Keima screamed. Chihiro snorted. She was actually making fun of him, but okay… at least he wasn't that bummed about Ayumi rejecting his ass.

"Speaking of which, did you stiff Ayumi with the bill?" Keima blushed. He'd completely forgotten about that. From his wallet, he shoved a few bills to Chihiro, "what, you go give them to her…" she pushed his hand back.

"I can hardly go back in there… you're her friend too… just go inside and pass it to her."

Chihiro smirked. So he wasn't as unaffected as he appeared. He noticed the look.

"It's not because I'm scared… If I tried opening the door, I'd get a message saying 'I probably shouldn't go in'…"

That response only got a raised eyebrow.

"Real life doesn't work like that, you know?" she shrugged, figuring that it was far enough anyway, "fine, I'll take it…"

Keima wordlessly passed it over.

"Just so you know, I'm keeping any change," Chihiro warned, folding the notes in her palms. Keima was already walking away.

"Don't care, got better stuff to do now…"

Chihiro smiled slightly, before deciding to go inside. She had originally come to check on Ayumi in the first place. It was a good thing too, because she was looking at her coffee thoughtfully. Ayumi was a pretty spontaneous person, so when she was thinking, it had to be pretty serious. Chihiro slid into the booth from the other side.

"Yo!"

Ayumi jumped.

"Chi-chihiro… what are you doing back?" Ayumi turned a light pink.

"I came to see how you were dealing…" Chihiro opened her note-filled hand onto the table, "also, Otamega asked me to give you this…"

The blush got a little darker. Ayumi had been worried about that.

"You saw, huh?" she groaned, "Let's get this over with, then…"

"What?" Chihiro replied. Her eyes were drifting to the last third of dark chocolate cake, but they snapped back to Ayumi.

"You saw Otamega was here… don't you wanna yak it up?"

Chihiro shook her head.

"You come first to me, and if you truly liked a guy like that, I would support you…" Chihiro replied. Still, the irony in those words weren't lost in her words, considering Chihiro had actively broken up their date.

No… Ayumi hadn't been ready for it either, and Chihiro had just pointed it out.

The runner groaned, her head falling into her hands.

"Am I a horrible person… for thinking less of Katsuragi because he's Otamega?"

"No way… that guy is as creepy as anything…" Chihiro said with a laugh, before sobering up, "did you actually like him like that?"

"No!" Ayumi shook her head hastily, "just… I don't think he's as bad as I thought before…"

Ayumi stirred her coffee sombrely. Chihiro could see that admitting that was probably a big deal for her, and she needed to respond delicately... Though more interestingly, Keima did succeed in making a good impression on her... not that she'd tell him about that.

"That's not too bad… maybe you can be friends with him instead."

"I tried…" Ayumi replied glumly, "he said he doesn't want any friends…"

Well, that sounds like Katsuragi. Chihiro chuckled.

"I'd say to still go for it… it's hardly like he can stop you from talking to him… personally, I think Ellie is the bet-"

"How come you keep looking at that cake?" Ayumi interrupted. Chihiro pulled her eyes off the dark chocolate cake.

"Come on, you have to consider this a waste," Chihiro motioned to the slice. Ayumi smirked.

"If it wasn't bad enough that you already ate from Katsuragi's cake using his fork, now you wanna eat some more… you sure you're not the one who likes him?"

Chihiro hastily pushed the plate away, a blush coming on her face for the first time this conversation.

"I had no intention of eating that," she replied truthfully, "it was just bothering me…" the malicious smile on Ayumi's face only grew.

"Of course it would… you have the same tastes as Katsuragi on cake…" Chihiro forced her eyes not to waver or drift away and give Ayumi the wrong idea, "So tell me, Chihiro," Ayumi gave her a smug smile, "how was it like, indirectly kissing Katsuragi?"

Chihiro snorted, suddenly a lot more at ease. Ayumi probably was trying to play that card in hopes that she'd get more embarrassed… how childish did Ayumi take her for? A crafty idea came to her mind.

"Pretty lame," Chihiro deliberately cut a small cube of cake with the fork, "considering I've kissed him already…"

That had the reaction Chihiro had wanted. Ayumi's mouth opened to get some details, and Chihiro shoved his fork into her open mouth. Ayumi's face turned a new shade of red as Chihiro pulled the fork back.

"That was evil!" Ayumi shouted, but that didn't stop her from swallowing it. Chihiro smiled mischievously.

"Well, now you know," Chihiro snickered.

"Wait, wh-"

"Oh, I was kidding about that…" Chihiro replied with a bored expression, which calmed out Ayumi, "or maybe I'm kidding about kidding about it…"

I'm going to kick your butt, Chihiro…" Ayumi glared at her, but the normal girl was more than ready for that, considering she was by the door already.

"Don't forget to pay for your food, Ayumi!" Chihiro called. Before the money hit the table, she was already out sight. Ayumi sighed and just called it a day.

* * *

Monday morning, the new hurdle for the second years came. Unlike the ones Ayumi was used to, it was one of words and deep thought which no amount of brute strength could get her over.

On the worksheet handed to everyone were the four words that all teenagers feared: Plans for the Future.

True, this was handed out every year, but this was more serious, with graduation only being two years away, and university applications starting in about a year. Ayumi definitely had to talk to someone… like her parents or her older brother…

Or Chihiro…

Ayumi turned around. Unlike what Ayumi had been expecting, Chihiro was chatting to Elsie, the other Katsuragi sibling Ayumi didn't have to reject. So Elsie and Chihiro were friends, huh? The class was given time to discuss this during homeroom, so she figured she'd go talk to them and Miyako.

"Done!" Elsie spoke proudly, slapping the paper onto her table.

"Good for you, Ellie," Chihiro cheered, "I should get down to writing my options too…"

"What, you know what you're doing already?" Ayumi asked. By this point, she was already at Elsie's desk, "I can get Elsie-san might know, but Chihiro knows nothing…"

"Rude!" Chihiro pouted, "and for your information, I have something perfect to write…" she mumbled a little as she started writing.

"What about you, Miyako?" Ayumi walked back one more desk from Elsie's. Miyako's paper was filled in in pen; to her surprise… she was certain of her plans for sure.

"For me, it's definitely university…" Miyako passed her sheet over, "I want to do some management or accounting type course…"

"Wow…" Ayumi passed the sheet back, "you seem pretty certain of your future… What about you, Elsie-san?"

Elsie passed her paper to Ayumi as well.

"You can call me Ellie," she laughed, "I'm not certain, but these are some ideas of things I'd like…"

While more numerous compared to Miyako's, Elsie had a pretty good idea too. She was jealous.

"You guys are so admirable…" Ayumi replied, leaning on Miyako's desk, "I have no clue what to write on mine…"

Miyako was about to reply before Elsie beat her to the punch.

"Ayumi-san, what is the name of the class representative?" Elsie poked her thumb at the twin-tailed girl who was pondering over her own sheet a few seats away, "I want to give my sheet in before I forget it at home…"

Ayumi gave a small laugh before shrugging.

"Sorry, I don't know… Chihiro is better at names…" Chihiro's head rose up at the sound of her name.

"You called?"

"I was telling Ellie you were better at names than me," Ayumi replied. Chihiro's chest swelled with pride.

"Oh yeah, I'd say I know our classmates by name," she nodded, "you need a name, Ellie?"

"Y-yeah… do you know the class representative's name?"

Chihiro paused, her eyes settling on the girl's figure… the name was on the tip of her tongue too…

A scoff came from in front of her after a few moments…

"Great proof… ten out of ten…" To Ayumi's surprise, it was Keima, whose sheet was placed upside down on the desk and was playing his game.

"I know her name!" Chihiro interjected, "I just need time to remember it."

"If it's not in your head straight away, you can't boast of knowing everyone's names, can you, Chihiro?"

Ayumi's eyes narrowed. So Katsuragi used Chihiro's first name as well.

"Doubt you can do any better… you could barely remember my name…"

Actually, I can remember any name if they've been called out in class or I've done duty with them… and of course, if I've played their route…" he pushed up his glasses.

"You think so?" Ayumi's eyes drifted to Chihiro, who was starting to get a competitive look in her eyes. Keima turned around.

"I know so," he smirked right back.

"First seat in the second row…" she challenged.

"Matsumiya Hiroko… two seats behind me…" Keima replied easily, sending his own question back. Chihiro glanced over her shoulder.

"Yoshino Asami… back corner seats…"

"Inoue Yukari, and Nakagawa Kanon, whenever she comes to class…"

Ayumi watched the proverbial ping pong match between both teenagers as they questioned and named a good third of the class.

"Nii-samaa… Chihiro-saan…" Elsie interrupted.

"What?" both of them turned to Elsie.

"Instead of fighting, answer my quuuestion!" Elsie flailed. Keima looked confused, while Chihiro glanced at the girl in question.

"She's asking about the class rep's name…" Ayumi supplemented.

Once again, the two fell to silence… even Keima, who actually was pretty good at remembering names, was stumped. Characters who didn't particularly stand out always stumped him.

"I-i-ikarino-san…" Chihiro smacked her hand on the table, "that's her name…" she turned to Keima, "suck it! I'm still better at this…"

The class rep turned around at the mention of her name.

"Ikarino-san… I was wondering if I could hand my form back in…" Elsie replied.

"Sure… let me bring the register so you can sign if off…" she gave a nod and walked up to the teacher's desk.

Chihiro sent a smug smile at Keima.

"If you're so smart, what's her first name?" A disgruntled Keima shot back.

"Beats me," she shrugged, "now turn around so I can gloat in peace…"

"If I get her full name, you don't get to gloat… and you can't speak to me for the rest of the week…"

"Ikarino-saan!" Chihiro raised her hand, "can I hand in my form as well?"

"I'm done too…" Keima gave a wave.

Ayumi groaned. Why the hell was everyone done here? Or rather, why the hell was Katsuragi chatting with Chihiro so easily? Katsuragi had no need for friends, according to his own words.

"Patience, people… let me take these two first…" she stopped at Elsie's desk. Chihiro was staring down the register. All she needed was to find her name, and bragging rights were all hers.

As soon as the register was placed on Chihiro's desk, Keima grabbed it, correctly intercepting the normal girl's plan. Chihiro scrambled out of her desk so she could see the register.

"I-i-I," she repeated under her breath as her eyes ran through the list.

Ikarino… her eyes quickly zipped to the place the first name should be. It was covered in white-out

Keima groaned at the same realisation.

"What, can you guys not find your names?"

"Umm… Ikarino-san… why isn't your name on this list?" Chihiro asked bravely.

"Nikaido-sensei spelt it wrong, so I was going to write it correctly," Ikarino shrugged.

"Now do you write it correctly then?" Keima asked, readying his pen, "the white-out is dried, so I'll write it before I sign…"

"That would be great, Otamega… It's spelt N…I…C…E…T…R…Y… and that is all…"

Keima looked at it for a moment before it sunk in. Chihiro snickered.

"Well played, Ikarino-san…" she laughed and returned back to her seat.

"I'll leave it to you guys to find my actual name by yourself…" she smirked, "also, I can't accept your form, Otamega… You didn't fill in anything other than your name.

Chihiro laughed. This day was just getting more and more perfect.

"Though don't get cocky, Kosaka-san… I can't accept yours either."'

"Why the hell not!?"

"Because 'Mermaid', 'joining a badass team and fighting anti-spirals', and 'the crawling chaos' are not careers you can currently go into…" she laughed, "nice try for you as well, but go consult with your parents before you hand this in… "

Chihiro pouted as everyone around her laughed at her expense… well, everyone except Keima, who'd gone back to ignoring everyone.

Keima was mad at himself… not only had he been the one to join Elsie's and Chihiro's conversation, but there was no reason to do so either. It was hardly like he was getting more information about some real girl or anything…

No, he blamed Ayumi! Her presence was messing with his head, and he couldn't stand being silent.

He sighed and returned back to his game… he'd spent way too much time away from it…

As Keima turned the screen on, he realised why he might have been easy to distract… because he was starting a new game, one of the mob characters were giving him exposition about the school, which was always a dull part of any game…

Though real life was chock full with mob characters too… why did he think talking to real people would be more interesting than getting exposition shoved into his face?

"Oi, Otamega…" Keima cringed at the hand that landed on his shoulder.

"Hands off, Mobuko!" Keima yelled, his head still inside his game. The class rep, who had been trying to give him his career form back, quickly removed her hand.

"Mobuko?" Chihiro repeated, "Is that a nickname?"

"Mobuko," Ikarino half-smiled, "if you want to call me that, sure…"

Keima robotically took the paper back, wondering how the hell she took that as a nickname… well… whatever…

He had better stuff to do now, anyway.

Keima robotically took the paper back, wondering how the hell she took that as a nickname… well… whatever…

He had better stuff to do now, anyway.

As the class rep- now named Mobuko, for some odd reason- was walking off, Miyako's and Elsie's papers, Ayumi's eyes trailed to Chihiro, who was lazing on her table, a shadow of that previous smile still on her face. Clearly, she wasn't bothered at having to refill her form.

"Chihiro…" Ayumi strolled over to the next seat, "I have a ques-"

Suddenly, she stopped… thoughts of that dark chocolate cake… their unashamed indifference for that form… their chummy way of fighting over their knowledge of names…

"What the hell are you guys?" she asked. Chihiro's eyes widened, but ahead of them, the clacking of the PFP buttons stopped as well.

"Huh?"

Outside the classroom, a boy leaned away from the window, sullenly shoving his hands into his pockets.

* * *

 **Well, the last scene was actually supposed to be an omake, but it turned out to be more in-depth than I expected... I think mostly because I like watching Keima and Chihiro fight in this story...**

 **Though out of curiosity, does anyone have any ideas about what Mobuko's name should be? I know canon just left it like that, but I kinda feel like she has a more normal name... like even Mappy's real name is Hiroko, and she appears even less than Mobuko does. I already have an idea on the name I'd want, but I wanna hear what you guys think too.**

 **XxX**

 **So review time:**

 **xellos540- Man, I actually remember when I read this review... scared the crap outa me.**

 **I do understand your concerns towards Keima's character in this story, but I couldn't really change this arc so much... but a new arc is beginning after this, and I kinda lost the majority of what I'd written, so I'll need to start again... in fact, I may want to use your betaing skills, if you don't mind, because I don't want to derail Keima any further... Keima is supposed to be awesome, and I haven't really been doing him justice so far... however, there's still quite a lot of story for me to redeem myself in, so getting a hand in might be appreciated.**

 **Also, I've been thinking about what you were saying about Chihiro not actively doing anything this arc... maybe from now on, I'll have both parties pursue people at the same time... though I did have plans for at least one arc to go like that, including some sabotaging gambits.**

 **xXx**

 **Egee99- Thanks for the kind words... though honestly, Miyako was pretty quiet this date... somehow, Miyako interfering in front of Ayumi would change status quo more than I'd like... she'll be back with something new for the next arc though.**

 **Lol, and you probably haven't seen the last of Chihiro's fake names... while the name choice is a seiyuu joke, I'm hoping the payoff turns out to be good.**

 **xXx**

 **NotAnAuthor504- Yeah, Miyako having such power was actually an oversight of mines, and something I will look into more as I write it... I do want her to mess with Keima, but he'll hold his ground next time... and whether Ayumi will find out about it... for the meantime, she's safe, but there's no telling about later...**

 **xXx**

 **Shawn Raven- Ah, you guys are always so nice to me... I'm sorry this was so delayed... and I was actually supposed to post this yesterday, but my net turned off...**

 **Chihiro totally had a plan... in fact, she even had a new plan to mess up the date... heck, she's acting even craftier than Keima... Man, I need to fix the power balance in here...**

 **XxX**

 **Ok, Apologies are still in order right about now... I've been in a kind of slump which I'm slowly getting out of now... I wrote about 1000 words for the new DMT chapter just today, so I'm hoping that will be out by next week... though I have been writing something else, if you guys have read The Gamer and the Guitarist... it's KeimaXChihiro drabbles, and I post those everyday... not that it's any excuse as to why I'm taking so long on my other stories, but at least there is new stuff if you're interested.**

 **That being said, I've written about 27% of all the KeimaXChihiro stories in this archive... I need help...**

 **I hope you enjoyed this, and hopefully I'll be back with a new chapter soon.**

 **Peace!**


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